Xenosaga I The Beginning
by Aerith The Evenstar
Summary: My first Xenosaga story. Andrea Jackson is a fan of Xenosaga and had a normal life until she was dismissed from school and her parents took her somewhere. That is where her life changed forever.
1. Prologue

ATE: Hi readers! I made a new story, this time it's Xenosaga! I've been wanting to try this for a while now, so here it is.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga, Kingdom Hearts II or anything related these 2 things. I do, however, own my OC Andrea.

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**Xenosaga I **

**The Beginning**

Prologue

I was sitting in my room finishing up Xenosaga III on my PS2. I had played the previous two games before and beat the second one yesterday. After playing all three, I found that the storyline made sense.

I turned off the PS2 after saving my clear game data to get ready for school. I picked up my school uniform (which looks like Kairi's school uniform from Kingdom Hearts II, except that there weren't any strips, only one solid color of gray blue) and put it on along with my shoes. I was about to leave my room when I remembered my necklace my parents gave me on my birthday. I picked it up and went over to the mirror in my room to put it on. The necklace had a white gold chain, with three marble shaped (and size) violet stones in a triangle shape with a sky blue crystal (like the crystal on the necklaces in Disney's Atlantis movie) connected at the bottom of the triangle.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I was 17 years old with blue eyes, white blonde hair that came to my shoulders and a slight tan. After putting my necklace on, I got my backpack and left for school.

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_(2 hours later)_

I sat at my desk in English class listening to the teacher talk about 'Romeo and Juliet' and how the two were star-crossed lovers and the tragedy that happened to them. It was pretty boring since I knew the story.

"Andrea Jackson, please report to the Principle's Office. Andrea Jackson, please report to the Principle's Office_._"

That's strange. They're calling my to the Principle's Office? I started getting out of my seat and left the classroom for the office. As I walked through the hallway I started to wonder why I was called to the office. Was I in trouble? I entered the Principle's Office and saw that my parents were also there.

"Thank you for coming, Andrea." The Principle said.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked.

"No. Nothing of the sort. You're just simply being dismissed from school today."

"I'll go get my stuff."

"That won't be necessary, Andrea." This time it was my dad. "You don't need your stuff."

I was starting to get suspicious about what was happening. Where was I going if I didn't need my stuff?

"Have a nice day." The Principle said.

"Thank you."

Little did I know that my day was going to be anything but nice.

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I was now sitting in the back seat of my dad's car, both my parents sitting in the front row seats. I wondered where we were going and why I had to come.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

My question fell on deaf's ears, as if it was never said. Why wouldn't they answer my question? I looked at the ground sadly.

"Andrea." My dad said. I looked up. "No matter what happens…always know that we love you…"

"Why are you telling me this? Of course I know that."

I looked out the window and saw that the car pulled into a big building that looked like a power plant. I've never seen this place before.

We all got out of the car and went inside. Once inside we were led by two guards down a long hallway. As I walked, I spotted a woman staring at me, a look in her eyes that seemed like pity. Why was she feeling sorry for me?

Before I knew it, we arrived in a big room that was white. Ahead of us was what appeared to be a capsule big enough to have a person lay inside of it. In the room were many people wearing lab coats working at machines and computers. But on person caught my attention.

It was a man wearing a black business suit. His hair was white and his eyes were red and he was pale skinned. I immediately thought this guy looked like Wilhelm from Xenosaga.

"I'm glad you could make it." He said (he even sounded like Wilhelm). He looked at me. "So you must be Andrea."

"And if I am?" I said. I didn't trust him at all since he looked like the villain from Xenosaga.

"So I am right. I am William."

"_That name is sound so much like Wilhelm…_" I thought.

"Why have I been brought here?"

"Curious, aren't we?" He seemed amused by my question. "You're here because you'll be the first person to be put in suspended animation. In other words, a guinea pig."

"What?! A guinea pig? There's no way in hell I'll be a guinea pig! My parents would never approve!"

"On the contrary, they did approve of it." He stated.

I looked back at my parents. They couldn't have agreed to this!

"Mom…Dad… Is this true? Is what he says true?" I watched as my parents said nothing to me, as if too guilty to say anything to me. My eyes widened. So it was true! My shock quickly turned to anger when I realized what they said to me in the car really meant."You knew all along! All this time you knew that this would happen, didn't you?!" I asked angrily.

"Retrieve her." William said.

I felt arms grabbing me and pull me back as I struggled to get out of their grasps in order to get away.

"Let go of me!" I yelled. I started kicking at any of the people that had grabbed me. "I said let go!"

I managed to get out of their grasps. They now started to advance towards me and I was ready to defend myself. I started to attack the person that was closest to me with my fists. I wouldn't go down without a fight. When I managed to get them all down, I looked up at William, a smirk on his face. It was like my struggle was a good action movie to him.

"Is that the best you got…_Wilhelm_?"

"Ah, so you know who I really am. I must say that I'm impressed." He said. "Too bad that it won't be that way for long."

Before I knew it, I felt more arms grab me again and started to drag me over to the capsule that I saw earlier. The closer we got to it, the more I struggled for freedom. Suddenly I felt something prick my neck and very slowly I started to loose strength. They must've used a tranquilizer or something on me. I looked to my parents and saw them watching me, the both of them crying. It made my heart ache as I saw them in this state.

"We're so sorry, Andrea…" Dad said.

"We love you…" Mom said.

I couldn't help but start crying. If they loved me, then why were they doing this to me, their only child? I didn't get it! I desperately wanted answers!

I was suddenly placed inside the capsule, my strength starting to vanish as I watched the lid started to close, encasing me inside the machine. I looked through the window as my vision became blurry, and soon everything went dark.

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ATE: What do you guys think? Please Review :)


	2. Chapter 1

ATE: Well, I've updated another chapter. This time we'll have a character that may be people's favorite.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga, not leave me alone!

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Chapter 1

In the darkness of space near the planet Ariadne, a lone A.G.W.S. unit was flying around in an investigation. Inside Jr. looked around.

"It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her… She felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle…huh." Jr. said. "All's quiet after the storm. There's no trace of anything. Over." As he flew his A.G.W.S. through outer space, he had a sudden thought as he observed the area. "I wonder…does that lake of darkness where Nero does his fishing look something like this?"

Inside the Durandal Mary stood in front of the screen and couldn't help but smile.

"You're quite the poet today, Little Master." She complemented. "Where do you come up with this stuff?"

"Read some books, Mary. It's good for you!" He said, a smirk on his face on the other end of the communication monitor.

"Books are made from paper, Little Master. And they're such a pain to carry around."

"Paper and stone tablets last longer than optical data, you know. Besides, reading a book helps me get to sleep." Jr. stated. "How's the sensor readout? Anything showing up?"

"Nothing at all." Shelley said, typing at the computer nearby. "It's as if even the atoms are at rest."

"Not even gas or dust?" He asked. "If it was a giant flare, it should've at least left behind some high-energy particles."

Jr. stopped as he saw the area in outer space that Ariadne used to be, but wasn't there anymore. He was shocked to find that it wasn't there anymore.

"How could that be…" He said. "An entire planet was here just a little while ago…"

Not far away did Jr. see the Durandal approaching him. On board the ship they were preparing to get him.

"Retrieving Little Master. Open cargo bay six." Shelley ordered as she continued to type.

The 100-Series Realians started to open cargo bay six for Jr.'s A.G.W.S. flew its way towards the Durandal.

"Let's go! Keep up the pace, everyone! We've still got work to do!" Mary said clapping.

Jr. came up on the elevator platform and appeared on the bridge. He walked towards where Mary stood.

"Hey, welcome back, Little Master." She greeted as she waved at Jr.

"Yo." Jr. waved back as he replied with his own greeting. "Ariadne's completely vanished. But it doesn't seem like it was destroyed… It's almost as if someone is hiding it somewhere." He leaned against the side.

"Hiding it…? Where would that be?"

"Who knows? The best way to find out would be to ask the person who's hiding it." He turned to the other sister. "Shelley?"

"It's very slight, but I'm getting a reaction from the primer. No question about it." Shelley said, looking over at Jr.

"Some kids playing with matches, maybe? What happened to that fleet, anyway?" Jr. asked.

"We haven't heard anything since we picked up that distress signal six hours ago." Said a 100-Series Realian as she typed.

"Gnosis, huh? Hmm… They must have been totally wiped out." Mary stated.

"Not necessarily." Jr. said. "When the little ones play with fire, you know their folks can't be too far behind."

Mary seemed to get the idea. "Ah…I get it… So you reckon that the momma's gonna show up soon?"

"Exactly. Change course! Proceed to the last known coordinates of the Federation fleet!"

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The Durandal soon arrived in the area where the Federation fleet had been before the attack of the Gnosis had happen. Jr. and Mary were both in A.G.W.S. units as they made their way to the ship.

"Man…this ship's been gutted down to the core." Jr. said surprised. "Looks like a carcass of a beached whale."

Mary then appeared on his screen. "It's not much better up here. There's no sign of life at all. Just a bunch of A.G.W.S. scrap."

"Figures…" He muttered. "It's not like diving into shark-infested waters with a big juicy steak."

Jr. and Mary flew their A.G.W.S. into the wrecked ship and landed inside.

"Bingo!" He said excitedly. "I've found the remains of a Zohar security ring! I guess this was where they were storing it. Shelley… Set the sequencing primer."

"Roger." Shelley said. "Initiating Primer Walking. Analyzing gate-in wake."

"If they're already out of range, we're outta luck. Let's hope they're still hanging around nearby."

"I can't believe you're hoping those things are still here… Aren't you scared, Little Master?" Asked Mary nervously.

"Heck, there're plenty of things in this world scarier than the Gnosis." Jr. stated. "So, how is it? Have they already gone over to the other side?"

"Just hold your horses there, Little Master. I'm in the middle of analyzing…" Suddenly an alarm went off. "Wha?"

"What is it?!" Asked Jr.

Jr. and Mary suddenly saw something appearing in the area around them.

"Emergency alert! Looks like someone got here before us!" Mary said.

"It appears we're completely surrounded." The enemies appeared out of nowhere. "Heh. Using short-jumps, eh? That's pretty damn clever!" He said smugly.

"Little Master, are they…"

"Yeah, no question about it. They're from U-TIC." The enemies started firing their weapon at Jr., but he dodged them by doing a back flip. "Mary, I'll head back after I take care of these guys! Order all the crew to return to the Durandal!" Jr. ordered.

Jr. started to smirk as he got out his weapons and attack the U-TIC soldiers in their A.G.W.S units. It took a while but he managed to defeat them all. After Jr. defeated the U-TIC soldiers the ship started to shake wildly. He assumed that if was a U-TIC battleship.

"Whoa, whoa, hold up… Trying to cover up the evidence?" He muttered.

"Little Master, you've got to hurry back! Their mother ship is coming!" Mary said.

Jr. managed to escape the wrecked ship successfully. He watched as the U-TIC battleship destroyed the ship and went back to the Durandal. Jr. and Mary were riding up the elevator to the bridge of the Durandal.

"Welcome back, Little Master." A 100-Series said.

"What's the situation?" Jr. asked.

"It's a standard attack vessel. Unknown registration. All weapons are at Condition zebra, interlocks removed. Awaiting orders, sir."

Suddenly the Durandal got hit and started to shake.

"These guys just don't let up, do they?" Said Jr. "Activate all shields!"

"Incoming, second wave of attacks. 10 second to impact!"

"All 100-Series, subchannel into the High Velocity Cannon system!" Shelley commanded as she got into her seat.

"Connection to High Velocity Cannon system complete. Enemy photon torpedo on the port side! Impact imminent!"

The U-TIC Battleship fired lasers at Durandal, but the shields had absorbed the lasers from the enemy ship. At least it would buy them time.

"The shield is still holding!"

"Man…all we were doing was investigating the scene. You'd think they could just leave us alone. Match course and speed!" Jr. said.

"Course and speed modified. Ready to fire!" Shelley commanded.

Jr. placed his hands on the controls and his eyes started to glow brighter as he reacted to the firing controls.

"Take this!"

The Durandal fired laser cannons at the U-TIC Battleship, destroying all but one of them that had a shield up.

"Hah, look at that, Little Master! They're already starting to flee." Mary said.

"The enemy mother ship has begun its retreat." Shelley stated.

"It'd be nice if we could just let 'em go… But we can't do that, now can we?" Asked Jr. "Shelley, give 'em a little nudge."

"And when he says a little nudge, you know what that means!"

"Set engines to ramming speed! Penetrate the port side and prepare for combat!" Shelley commanded.

The Durandal rammed the nose part into the shielded U-TIC Battleship and it penetrated through the shield and the U-TIC Battleship suffered damage. The crew made it's way into the ship and where ready for orders.

"Our objective is the enemy mainframe. Utilize all available terminals and counter any protective measures." Mary said. "Once inside, engage all hostiles. All hands, move out."

The Durandal crew moved forward.

Mary then looked to Jr. "Well, shall we head for the bridge, Little Master? Ready?"

"All right. Let's get this over with and go home." Jr. said. The two started to move forward.

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On their way to the bridge, Jr. and Mary came across a room where three U-TIC soldiers were standing guard. But the soon spotted them and charged at the two. Jr. and Mary easily took them out.

Jr. then noticed something in the room and went over to it. Mary followed after him.

"What is that?" Mary asked.

"I don't know…" Jr. replied. "It looks sorta like a capsule of some sort. Seems like an older model than the ones we use." Jr. started to dust off the bottom where a plate with the date would be and found that it had '2008 A.D.' written on the metal. "What the…? This capsule's from 2008!"

Mary then looked over Jr.'s shoulder. "At least that explains why it appears to be old." She stated.

"No kidding. And if this is a capsule then someone from the year 2008 A.D. must be inside it."

"Are you suggesting that we take it with us, Little Master?"

"Yeah. Who knows. Maybe we could learn about Lost Jerusalem from them." Jr. said. "Mary, do you think that you can carry it?"

"Sure thing, Little Master. But I won't be able to fight if we're in battle."

Jr. and Mary made it to the bridge, and due to Jr. touching things that he wasn't supposed to, they (minus Mary who was still holding the capsule) were forced into a fight with Ambix. They soon defeated Ambix Mary sat at the computer and started to hacked into the mainframe.

"We've hacked into the enemy mainframe. Okay, so now what? Shall I copy or transmit it?" Asked Mary.

"They've already entered the manual override code… The partitions are being deleted. Hurry up and start your transmission." Shelley said.

"Roger. You just clear your head out and wait for me." Mary found a wide connector and connected it to her headset.

Jr. went over to Mary. "I tell ya, being able to interlink with your sister has gotta be real convenient." Jr. stated.

"I wouldn't say that. She has so many random thoughts."

"I can't help it! We're humans, not Realians. You can telepathically talk to the Kaiser, right, Little Master? That sounds a lot more convenient to me. You don't need this annoying contraption, either." Mary said.

"Not really… I have to constantly make sure I watch what I'm thinking, or else I start sending thoughts I don't want to send." Jr. said. "The whole thing's just as tiring as hell. It'd be easier to just write him a letter."

"Oh, I didn't know it was like that."

"Yep, that's how it is…"

Suddenly U-TIC soldiers came into the room and started to fire on them. Fortunately, Jr. and Mary didn't get hurt. Jr. took out his guns and started firing on them, killing all the U-TIC soldiers instantly. Jr. twirled his guns and put them away.

"You okay, Mary?" Jr. asked.

"Yeah, I'm all right, but… Look what you did!" Mary held up wide connector, which was cut off from the original connector.

"I'm sorry to say that all data from the enemy mainframe has been lost." Shelley said.

"Ah…oops." Jr. started rubbing the back of his head.

"It's because of all those cheesy action flicks you keep on watching!" Mary stated.

Just then Jr. received a signal from the Durandal.

"They've launched a lifeboat. Shall we pursue?"

"Nah, no need to pursue them that far. We just need to know where they're headed. Place a trace request with the U.M.N. administration bureau." Jr. said. "Let's head back. Hurry up with the retrieval preparations onboard the Durandal. All hands, check your equipment. Don't leave any evidence behind."

Jr. left the bridge, leaving Mary alone.

"Amazing…" Mary said. "I can't believe how much his personality changes when he's holding a gun."

"A lust for conquest and absolute power, and the desire to have a really big…gun. I supposed that'd be the standard explanation." Shelley said.

"You don't hold back, do you, Shelley?"

"Although, in Little Master's case, it's probably just a complex about his height."

Mary giggled "Probably. But I think Little Master's plenty attractive just the way he is."

"True… Mary, we'll be leaving in two minutes." Shelley said. "Hurry back, okay?"

"Roger."

Shelley broke contact with Mary.

"It's a shame…" Mary said sadly. "Little Master doesn't have any choice in the matter but to stay that size…"

Mary left the U-TIC battleship, carrying the capsule in the A.G.W.S. unit hand as she made her way back to the Durandal. There they would surely take a look at what who the person was inside the capsule that was from the year 2008 A.D.

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ATE: Thank you for reading. This chap took a while to write as I had to resort to playing the game to get all this down. So Reviews are really appreciated at this point.

Please Review :)


	3. Chapter 2

ATE: I got another chap for you guys to read. I hope I haven't written anyone OOC.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own my OC that appears in this chap.

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Chapter 2

After the crew from the Durandal made it back Jr., Mary, and Shelley stood in the Hanger, the capsule with '2008 A.D.' laying on the ground near them. They were sure that there was a person inside it, but the glass had fog on it so they couldn't make out who it was.

"Who could possibly be inside this ancient capsule?" Asked Shelley.

"Who knows? But I do know that we won't find out until we look." Jr. said.

Jr. made his way towards the capsule and started to wipe the fog off, but he was surprised at what he saw.

It was a girl who looked to be 17 years old with long white blonde hair and wore an old school uniform (most likely from the school she might've attended to in her day), her eyes closed, sleeping peacefully as if she had just been asleep for a few hours.

"My god…!" Jr. gasped.

"What is it Little Master?" Mary asked.

"It's…" Jr. turned to look at Mary. "It's a girl."

Mary and Shelley both came over to the capsule and they saw that it was indeed a girl.

"Who would do such a thing to someone her age?" Shelley asked.

"It wouldn't matter if they're long gone…" Jr. said.

Jr. felt sadness and anger at the same time. Sad because of what the girl had to go through and the fact that when she woke up she would be sad upon discovering that everyone she knew was already dead, and anger for whoever did this to her. If there were such things as time machines, he would surely go back and kill the bastards that did this to her. But sadly, no such technology existed, even in this time with the kind of technology they had.

"We're letting her out."

"Are you sure, Little Master?" Shelley asked.

"Positive. She's been inside this capsule for 4000 years. I'd think she'd be glad to get out after sleeping for that long."

Mary went to where the controls for opening the capsule would be and managed to find it, the lid of the capsule hissing opened as smoke was released.

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I hear a hissing sound and I suddenly felt cold as warm air started to hit my skin. With difficulty I opened my eyes, my vision blurry at first but it soon cleared and I saw two women and a little boy looking down at me.

One of the women had blonde hair and blue eyes, wore an outfit of yellow and blue, and wore a blue hat on her head.

The other woman wore purple, and had purple hair and eyes.

The little boy looked to be about 12 years old, with red hair and blue eyes. He wore a white shirt with green pants (the right pant leg had the zipper open near his knee, making it look like it had been ripped) and wore a long black coat with long sleeves. I noticed that he had two guns in holsters around his waist.

I sat up and noticed that my white blonde hair was longer (way passed my waist to my bottom). I remembered it being to my shoulders last time. I looked at what I was wearing and was confused. Was I wearing a uniform? I noticed a necklace around my neck. It was really pretty with three marble shaped violet stones and a sky blue crystal, but were did I get it? Did someone give it to me? And what was I laying in?

"So you're awake." I looked up at where the voice came from. It turned out to be the little boy.

"_Awake?_" I thought. He made it sound like I was asleep for a long time.

"Where am I?" I asked quietly.

"You're on the Durandal, a ship from the Kukai Foundation." Said the blonde, who had a country accent.

"Mary. She wouldn't know that." Said the woman with purple hair.

"It's alright Shelley, we can explain it to her." The little boy said. "I'm Jr. Gaignun Jr. I got a real name, but let's just leave it at that for now." He gestured to the blonde woman. "The one with the blue outfit is Mary, and the on in purple is Shelley. What's your name?"

I opened my mouth to tell them my name, but then realized I didn't remember it. I looked down at my hands that lay in my lap.

"I…don't remember…" I said sadly.

I heard nothing for awhile, but then I heard them whispering to each other. Unfortunately, I couldn't make out what they said.

"How about we give you a name? That is until you remember your real one?" Asked Jr. after the three were done whispering.

I looked up at Jr. They were going to give me a new name?

"That would be nice." I said.

"How about Ayame?" Shelley suggested.

I nodded my head in approval. It was a nice name and at least I wouldn't go around nameless. I started getting out of the thing I was laying in, but Jr. held out his hand to me. I wasn't sure why he was doing that, and he must've noticed my confusion.

"Take my hand." He said. "I'll help you out."

I hesitated for a little bit, but I took Jr.'s hand and he helped me out of the thing I was in. Once I was out I looked back and noticed that the thing I was laying in was actually a capsule and at the bottom was written '2008 A.D.'

"'2008 A.D.'? What does that mean?" I asked.

"You don't know what that means?" Mary asked.

I shook my head, telling her I didn't.

"It refers to the year you were sealed in that capsule. And the current year is T.C. 4767. In other words, 4000 years into the future." (AN: I hope I got that right.)

I was in T.C. 4767. And I was asleep for 4000 years?

"_So much time has passed for me…_" I thought.

"It looks like you'll need a different outfit to wear." Jr. said. "No use parading around in a 4000 year old outfit like that."

I looked down at my outfit in confusion. It seemed perfectly fine to me and it wasn't like it was ruined or anything.

"Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?" I asked.

"Well no…It's uh…It's…" I saw Jr.'s face turn as red as his hair.

"What the Little Master is trying to say is that you need a new look." Mary said.

"Yeah, what Mary said." Jr. said.

"We can help you with that." Shelley said.

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Mary and Shelley took me to a room I would be staying in since I had nowhere to go. Right now I wearing the clothes Mary and Shelley had gotten me after I had gotten cleaned up.

The outfit was a short white shirt with no sleeves and a white short skirt with a black belt around my waist. On my feet were black boots that came past my knees and I wore a long sky blue coat (like Jr.'s). Around my neck were a white chocker and the necklace I was wearing when I woke up.

At the time I was sitting on my bed. I looked down at the necklace that I wore and fingered. I couldn't help but wonder where I could have gotten it before I got amnesia.

I then heard knocking on the door to my room and looked up.

"It's open." I said.

The door opened to reveal Jr., who stood outside.

"Hey Ayame." He said as he walked into the room.

"Hi Jr." I replied back. "Is there something you need?"

"No. I was wondering if you wanted me to show you around the Durandal?"

"Sure. That sounds good."

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After we left my room Jr. started to show me around the Durandal. He already told me that the area we had been in was the Residential Area. We made our way down the hallway and rode this subway train like thing to another area of the ship. When we got off the subway we rode up a thing that reminded me of an escalator to the top and entered through the doorway. What I saw amazed me. It was a pretty area with a fountain in the middle, benches, and trees. Flying around in the air were what appeared to be fire flies. There was a huge window that showed the outside of the Durandal.

"This is the Park Area. It's a good place to go if you need to relax or want some peace and quiet." Jr. told me.

"Wow… It's really beautiful." I said.

I heard Jr. chuckle. I looked down at him confused.

"What's so funny?"

"You just act like this was the first time you've seen a park." He replied. "But I can't blame you since you have amnesia."

Just then I started to see something.

_There was a little girl with short white blonde hair wearing a pink dress sitting on a swing as a man (I assumed was her dad) pushing her as she swung back and forth, laughing as she had fun. Sitting on a bench nearby was a woman who had a smile on her face as she watched the two._

"…_ame?" I heard a voice echo as the image faded._

"…ame?" I felt someone shaking me. "Ayame?"

I shook my head trying to clear my head and I looked down at Jr., who had been shaking me.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm okay." I replied.

"What happened?"

I didn't think Jr. would ask what happened. How would I explain what I saw?

"I saw something, like a vision, I think…"

"A vision? I think you might've been a flashback. What was it about?"

"It was of a little girl with her parents. The father was pushing the little girl on a swing in a park." I explained.

"Hmm… Maybe you're starting to remember." Jr. stated. "But that flashback alone won't be able to tell us much about your past."

"So I'm going to have to wait a while until I can remember everything…" I looked at the ground sadly. I didn't want to go around wondering who I was and my life before being sealed inside that capsule.

"Don't worry." I felt a hand on my arm, squeezing it as if to assure me. I looked at the hand and saw that it was Jr. "I'll be with you as you try to remember. So don't worry, okay?"

I now had a new view of Jr. Even though he must've been a leader of some sort with a lot of responsibilities, he still had time to be himself. Heck, he took the time to be concerned about me. I nodded me head, telling him that I was grateful for the help he would offer me.

"How about I continue showing you around?" Jr. asked, taking his hand away from my arm.

"Sure." I said.

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We soon finished the tour around the Durandal and now I stood on the bridge. Mary was standing near me and Jr., while Shelley was at a computer typing.

It was when I first entered the bridge that I had my first encounter with Realians, or in this case, the 100-Series. At first I thought that they were just very smart little girls, but Jr. explained that they were indeed Realians, telling me that they looked like people, but their eyes were what gave them away since they were yellow. At least I would be able to tell if someone was a Realian.

At the moment I was staring out the window at the stars in space. It was amazing how this was normal for them to see something like this everyday. Or maybe it took so little to amaze me.

Since I knew where everything was, Jr. said I could go wherever I pleased on the Durandal. That meant I could go to the Park Area again. I rode the elevator platform down and made my way to the subway train. I rode it to the Park Area and rode the escalator to the doorway and entered the Park.

Once inside, I went over to one of the benches in front of the window and sat on it, staring out the window. I closed my eyes, deciding on taking a nap.

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_I didn't know what was going on, but I knew that a bunch of people had grabbed me. There were people in the room, but I couldn't see their faces because they were blurred. I felt my mouth move as started yelling, but I couldn't hear what I was saying. In fact I couldn't hear what anyone was saying. __I felt myself kicking and I soon started to fight the people holding me captive. Soon more arms grabbed me from behind and I was struggling again. I felt something prick my neck and I started crying for some reason. _

_My eyes closed and opened again to find myself in a graveyard, a little girl in a dress stood in front of me, but everything was black and white, even me. She started saying something, but I couldn't hear her._

_The area changed to a dark room. I was scared and confused since I didn't know where I was. I suddenly heard cracking and turned around. What I saw scared._

_A man with white shaggy hair and violet eyes and wearing a outfit with a white cape sat on a throne like chair holding what looked like one of the 100-Series Realians, but had long white hair and dark skin, in his arms. He held the Realian's arm as he spotted me._

"_So you're here?" It was more of a statement that a question. _

_I watched as he bent the Realian's arm the wrong way, resulting in a sickening cracking. He discarded the Realian as if it was simple trash on the ground. I looked at the ground and my eyes widened when I saw that there were many of the same Realians littering the ground sprawled in odd angles. My stomach twisted, making me feel sick._

_I heard the sound of feet moving towards me and I looked up to see that man approaching me, a wide grin on his face. I started to back away from him until my back touched something. I looked behind me and saw that it was a door, but found it was locked when I tried to open it. __I heard the footsteps get closer and I turned to see that he was in arms reach of me. I felt my body shaking in fear of this guy._

"_You can run, but you can't hide!" He said. "Because I'm coming for you and ma pêche." _

_He started cackling manically that it made me scared. If this was a nightmare, then I wanted out of it right now! I didn't want to see this anymore! Let me out!!!_

--------------------------------------------

My eyes shot open as I woke up. I looked around and saw that I was still in the Park Area.

"_So it was a nightmare…_" I thought.

"Decided to take a nap, did you?" I jumped as I looked to where the voice came from and saw that it was Jr., who sat next to me on the bench.

"Oh, it's just you, Jr." I said relieved. "How long have you been there?"

"I came in and found you sitting on this bench asleep." He said. "You seem a little jumpy. Is something wrong?"

I looked down at the ground, afraid of remembering that nightmare I had. Maybe if I told him, I would be able to forget it, right?

"I had a nightmare."

"A nightmare, eh?" He asked curiously. "What kind?"

"There was…this guy that had white hair and violet eyes. He had a Realian in his arms that looked like the 100-Series, but it had long white hair and darker skin. And he bent the Realian's arm and threw it to the ground." I explained. "He said 'You can run, but you can't hide. Because I'm coming for you and ma pêche.' He…he scared me."

I looked at Jr., who was looking at the ground as he growled.

"Albedo_…_" He muttered.

"Albedo?" I asked. "Who's that?"

Jr. looked up at me, as if realizing what he said.

"It's nobody you need to concern yourself about." He told me. "Just try to forget what you saw, okay?"

I was confused why Jr. wanted me to forget what I saw, but I nodded to him anyways. I'll try to forget.

* * *

ATE: Again, I hoped I didn't make anyone OOC. This chap took awhile to plan, so Reviews would be nice to receive at this point if no one has reviewed yet.

Please Review.


	4. Chapter 3

ATE: Hey guys! Sorry it took a while. I finally got 2 reviews and they were both from Also Sprach Mina. I like to thank this person for reviewing this story. Now all you other people need to do is follow this person's example.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga or Instant Ramen. I only own my OC Ayame.

* * *

Chapter 3

After I agreed to Jr. that I would forget about that nightmare, we stayed in the Park Area sitting on the bench. I enjoyed the quiet area.

"Hey Ayame?"

I turned to look at Jr. "Yes?" I asked.

"Out of all the areas on the Durandal that you could've gone to, you chose to come to the Park Area. Why come here?" Jr. asked.

I stared at Jr. as he stared at me with his vivid blue eyes, waiting for my answer.

"I came here because I'm able to feel a sense of peace and quiet. And I'm also able to think."

"I know what you mean. I come here for the peace and quiet as well. Especially when I'm stressed."

"I bet you would. For someone your age, you have a lot of responsibilities." I said.

But for some reason, something told me that he wasn't a kid. Why was that? He looked like a kid in appearance; wouldn't that make him a kid?

_Gggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…_

I felt my face heat up as I heard that sound. Jr. looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you by any chance…hungry?" He asked.

"N-no…!" I answered quickly, too quickly for my taste.

The look on Jr.'s face told me that he didn't buy it. But then the growling sounded again and I felt my face heat up again, this time warmer than before. I watched as Jr. busted out laughing, probably about how red my face must've been right now.

"I think your stomach did the talking for you!" Jr. said after his laughter faded (somewhat). "I'm not surprised about that. The last time you ate was 4000 years ago for crying out loud."

"You're probably right." I said. "Don't worry stomach, you'll get food soon."

"C'mon, let's get you some food." I could tell that he was trying not to laugh.

-----------------------------------

We came to what I thought might've been a kitchen of sorts. I watched as Jr. rummaged through a cabinet, looking for something. He soon found something since I heard him go 'Ah ha' and pulled his hands out, bringing out two cup that said 'Instant Ramen' on them.

"'Instant Ramen'?" I asked.

"Yeah." Jr. said as I watched him place a pot of water on a stove to boil. "Fastest thing to cook that doesn't take an effort to make." He took out two sets of sticks. "And the best way to eat them is with chopsticks."

I then saw another flashback again.

_This time I saw myself holding a cup of 'Instant Ramen' and chop sticks. I felt myself smile as I stuck the chopsticks into the noodles._

"_Instant Ramen and chopsticks. What a wonderful gift the Japanese have given us." I said as I used the chopsticks to eat the noodles._

"_Why are you eating Instant Ramen with chopsticks?" A girl asked me. "Why not use a fork?"_

"_It feels more original to eat these noodles with chopsticks. And besides, the Japanese people eat their ramen with chopsticks."_

I shook my head and saw Jr. smirking at me.

"Let me guess. You had another flashback, didn't you?"

"Yeah." I said. "Only it was about Instant Ramen and chopsticks." Then a thought occurred to me. "Is it really that obvious to tell that I'm having a flashback?"

"Yeah. You have this dazed look in your eyes, like you're staring into space. It was like that the first time it happened too." He answered. "So even the people in your time had Instant Ramen and chopsticks as well."

"It would seem that way."

The pot of water started to scream and Jr. took it off the stove, pouring hot water into each of the cups of ramen and stuck chopsticks into them.

"Careful!" He said as he handed me a sup of ramen. "It's hot."

"Thank you, Jr." I said. I did what I saw myself do in that flashback, picking up some ramen with the chopstick and blowing on them to cool them down a bit before eating them. The noodles tasted good. Did I actually eat these in my time before waking up 4000 years later? "This is good!" I then stated to eat them and soon the noodles were all gone, leaving me with a satisfied stomach.

"You must've been hungry to finish them that quickly…" Jr. stated, he had only started eating his ramen.

"Yep…" I said, blushing. I think I have just embarrassed myself.

-----------------------------

"You know Ayame? I've been thinking that you would need a weapon of some sort." Jr. said as we walked to the subway train. "What do you think?"

"I think that I should have a weapon, whether I like it or not. I can't go around defenseless forever, right?" I then remembered that nightmare and that guy (Albedo as Jr. had called him). What if it wasn't just a nightmare? What if it would actually happen? If it did, I definitely didn't want to be defenseless if it were to happen.

"_Stop thinking about it, Ayame!_" I thought. "_You told Jr. that you would try to forget that nightmare!_"

"Yeah. And I have the perfect weapon in mind…" Jr. had a grin on his face, and I suddenly became fearful of what he had in mind… I had an idea that mentally he was rubbing his hands in anticipation.

---------------------------------------

Jr. and I stood in a room that had weapons (mostly guns). He walked over to a table and picked up two identical guns that were both silver in color. At the corner of the guns, which was at the top of the handle between the trigger and safety mechanism (I think that's what it's called), was a black button.

"Here." He said, tossing me the two guns. I caught both of them, but almost dropped them at the same time. I held both guns in each hand. "Try pressing that button."

Still holding the guns in each hand, I held my arms out, slight lifted as I pressed the black button on both guns with my index finger. Suddenly the guns started to fold until they both were straight and a three foot long silver blade came out of where the bullets of the gun would shoot out of each gun. After the transformation, it looked like a sword, the trigger and safety mechanism becoming the guards on the gun (now hilt) on each side.

"Wow…" I said.

"I see that you like it."

I looked to Jr. "It's really pretty. What are they called?"

"They're called 'Towa No Shiruba,' which means 'Silver of Eternity' in an ancient language." He replied. "And they're now yours."

"Y-you're just going to give me these?" I asked. "Why?"

"Yeah? I'm giving them to you as a gift and because you're my friend."

"_Friend?_" I thought. "_I'm…his friend…?_"

"You still remember what friends are, right?"

"…I…" _Friends…_ "I…don't…" _Friends… _"…remember…"

I saw flashes of people racing through my mind. I didn't recognize any of them, but they seemed familiar to me for some reason.

"_Who are these people…?_" I thought.

The images soon faded and my vision cleared to reveal a very concerned Jr. standing in front of me. Since I was on my knees, Jr. was a few inches taller than me (he only came up to my chin whenever I stood). It was then that I noticed that I was on my knees and felt something wet on my face and brought my hand up to feel it. I brought it to my face to see that it was water.

"_Am I crying?_" I thought.

I felt arms wrap around me and saw that it was Jr. Why…?

"Why are you crying?" He asked.

"I…I don't know…" I answered. "I know people cry when they're sad, but I don't feel sad."

"It's okay." He started to wipe my tears. "Maybe you'll know why you're crying when you remember."

"I…hope so."

Just then something started to beep and Jr. pulled away, bringing out a thing that reminded me of a walkie-talkie. A semi-transparent screen appeared, showing Mary's face. That was when I realized that it must have been a communicator.

"Little Master, you need to come to the Bridge quick!" She said.

"What's wrong, Mary?" He asked.

"We just caught sight of a ship that looks like the Elsa being attacked by Gnosis!"

"I'm on my way!" Jr. shut down the communicator. "Let's go Ayame." We were about to leave when Jr. picked something up. "Catch!" He threw something at me and I caught it.

"What's this?" I asked.

"A holster belt to put the Towa No Shiruba in. You wear it like a belt around your waist." He told me as we both made our way to the Bridge.

* * *

Chapter Bloopers (AN: You thought it was over, didn't you?)

**"Blah Blah" **- Authoress talking

_Scene 1_

_Gggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…_

Ayame's face heat up as she heard that sound. Jr. looks at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you by any chance…hungry?" He asked.

"Why yes. Yes I am."

**"Cut!" ATE comes out. "Ayame, you're supposed to say 'no' to that."**

"I was going to find out eventually." Jr. said.

**"But not like this Jr..."  
**

_Scene 2_

The pot of water started to scream and Jr. took it off the stove, pouring hot water into each of the cups of ramen and stuck chopsticks into them.

"Careful!" He says as he hands Ayame a cup of ramen. "It's hot."

"Thank you, Jr." She says. She picks up some ramen with the chopsticks and blows on them a bit before eating them. "This is good!" She then starts to eat them, but burns her tongue trying to eat them quickly. "Ow! Uh bun muy tohgue!"

"I warned you." Jr. says.

**"Cut!" ATE runs out. "You're weren't supposed to burn your tongue."**

"Didn't you say there would be ice cubes in her ramen?"

**"Yes I did." ATE realizes something. "Wait a minute! Where were the ice cubes I asked for? Assistent #1?"**

"Yes Ma'am?" Assistent #1 comes out.

**"Didn't you get the ice cubes I asked for? The ones to put in Ayame's ramen?"**

"Uh...oops...?"

**"What do you mean 'oops'?!"**

"I forgot them..."

**"That's it! Your fired!"  
**

_Scene 3_

"Here." Jr. tosses Ayame the Towa No Shiruba. She tries to catch them but misses as they fly passed her and in the sound of glass breaking in the background can be heard.

**"Cut!" ATE says. "Jr.! You broke the window!"**

"Sorry..." Jr. smiles sheepishly.

**"Let's try this again."**

_Few minutes later..._

Jr. tosses the Towa No Shiruba at Ayame again, but misses and hits another window.

**"Cut! Jr.! This is the 50th window you've broken already! Those things are expensive to replace, you know?"**

"Sorry...for the 50th time already..."

_Scene 4_

"Catch!" Jr. throws the holster at Ayame, but instead of catching it it hit her square in the face.

"OWW!"

**"Cut!" ATE runs out to Ayame. "Are you okay Ayame?"**

"I'm okay. I'll live."

**"Jr. What is with you in missing the target or hitting them square in the face today?"**

"I don't think I'm wearing my lucky underwear today."

**"Your lucky what...?" ATE then realizes something. "On second thought, don't repeat that Jr."  
**

**

* * *

**

ATE: Now we're at the end (for real)! Remember readers, the more Reviews I get, the more motivated to write I get as well.

Please Review...you know you want to... :)


	5. Chapter 4

ATE: I know, I know! It's been a while since I updated, but I got you chap. 4. For some reason, no one has been reviewing this story. What's up with that? Even when this story has 70 hits, only one person has given me 2 review, but nobody else.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own my OC Ayame.

* * *

Chapter 4

Jr. and I ran into the elevator platform in order to get to the Bridge. When we finally made it to the top we ran to the portion where Mary and Shelley were.

"There you are Little Master." Mary said.

"What's the status?" Jr. asked.

"So far it's a ship that looks like the Elsa and it's being attack by Gnosis as I already told you. What should we do?"

"Even if it isn't the Elsa, we should still help them. Better safe than sorry, right?"

"Another good deed of the day, right Little Master?" Shelley asked.

"I guess you could say that, Shelley. But we wouldn't have met Ayame if we didn't." Jr. said while scratching his head in embarrassment. "Anyways, fire the lasers at the Gnosis!"

I walked to where the three were and as they said I saw a ship being attacked by these creatures that were odd looking (some where huge while others were smaller). The ship was obviously trying to get away.

"We are ready to fire, Little Master." Shelley said.

I saw as Jr. placed his hands on the main controls and suddenly a barrage of lasers started to rain down on the Gnosis, destroying them.

"What the…?!" A gruff voice said over a communication screen. "The Durandal?!"

"You got it!" Jr. said.

"Registration confirmed, Little Master. It's the Elsa." Mary said.

"Jeez…Those guys were damn lucky we were passing by. What the hell are they doing here? Well, whatever." He said. "All guns, target the Gnosis. Cut open an escape path for Elsa and annihilate the enemy!"

I watched as the Durandal fired a large amount of lasers and was amazed as they exploded in a chain that they seemed to cover up all of space.

"_Now that's what I call fire power…_" I thought.

As time passed there were still a lot of explosions, but just as many Gnosis as before. This didn't look good…

"This is no good. We'll never get all of them." Mary said. "What should we do?"

"We should've resupplied earlier… This is what I get for taking on the U-TIC." Jr. said. "Otherwise this would be a cinch…"

"Little Master." Shelley said. "Enemy group formation approaching from five o'clock. We're being surrounded on all sides."

"So, they're not gonna let us go, huh? And they've coordinated their attack patterns… I've never seen them fight like this before." Jr. said. "Even if we gate-jump out of here, we may not be able to shake 'em."

"Little Master! Another group is chasing after the Elsa!" One of the 100-Series Realians said.

I could do nothing but watch as the Elsa is being chased by Gnosis as if tried to get away.

"_I hope that they get out of this mess and we come back in one piece…_" I thought as I held my hands in a prayer like position.

Some time passed as I looked out the window, suddenly seeing something floating outside near the Elsa. Upon closer inspection I saw that it was a person with long blue hair.

"_Wha…? A person?!_" I thought.

"Attract Inhibitor output at 300 percent. Zohar Emulator waves can no longer be suppressed!" A 100-Series Realian said.

Zohar Emulator…? What was…?

"What the hell…" Jr. growled as he slammed his hands on the controls "Now they're acting up?!"

I was surprised by the way Jr. was acting since I've never seen him this way before. I could've sworn I almost jumped.

"Intruder alert in the Pieta motherframe! Permutational phenomena appearing in the Variant!" Shelley said as Jr. looked to her.

"In Momma? Where's it coming from?!"

What the heck was Momma? Was it a person?

"Scanning transfection course…" A Realian replied. "Course tracked! It's coming from the quarantine hangar!"

"The quarantine hangar…it can't be the Zohars?" Jr. said worried.

"It is. External sources are sending requests to the Zohars!"

"Paradigm contamination is spreading! If this keeps up, the motherframe will be taken over!" Shelley told Jr.

"Cut off the main line to the quarantine hangar! Stabilize the Attract Inhibitor through a secondary line!"

"Main line purged! All signals blocked!"

I looked back outside the window to the person standing on the roof of the Elsa as Gnosis were heading towards the ship. Suddenly there was a glowing blue light and a blue beam started to suck in the Gnosis to the person like a vacuum until they were all gone.

"_What…just happened?_" I thought.

"Amazing…" Mary said. "That thing just sucked all the Gnosis in."

"But we don't have that kind of weaponry." Jr. said. "Shelley. I want you to open a communication link with the Elsa."

"Roger, Little Master."

I could hear a buzzing sound in the background for about a few minutes until a screen popped up out of nowhere with a man with a dark shirt and a red cap on.

Jr. and this person (who turned out to be Captain Matthews) talked for a while and Jr. told him that he and some other people could dock on the Durandal. The communication ended and the screen vanishing.

------------------------------------------------------

An hour passed as we waited for the people from the Elsa to come to the Bridge.

"…So, ya got it?" Jr. asked.

"Roger, Little Master." Mary said.

I looked to the elevator platform when I heard it stop to see a group of six people (including Captain Matthews) arrive.

The group consisted of one woman who had brown hair and wore glasses, a little girl with pink hair (which I noticed was a Realian), a man with a somewhat identical uniform as the woman but green, a boy with dark skin and white hair, and a man with blonde hair and had a mechanical arm.

"Thanks for helping us out." Said the boy with white hair.

"You guys better fill me in on the situation later." Jr. said. "Man, what the heck is

going on here…? And Momma's gone and caught a bug, so we can't perform any

investigations or analyses for a while."

"That's terrible."

"Tell me about it."

"Hey, is that Little Master?" The man with the uniform asked Matthews.

"He's our boss… The head honcho." The Captain said. "Hey, Little Master… We picked up a couple of passengers headed for Miltia while we were working. What should we do with 'em?"

"They look like they're in pretty deep with something…" Jr. said. "Well, your first concern should be to repair the Elsa. Why don't you get it fixed over at the Foundation? You won't make it very far in that kinda shape."

"Foundation…?" The woman in the uniform asked. "You mean the Kukai Foundation? From the Galactic Finance 500's "Top 10 Fastest Growing Corporations" list? Then you must be…?!"

"Ah…the business stuff was meant to be a side thing. We got lucky, that's all."

"This is bad, Chief! We can't associate with these people!" The man asked his 'Chief'.

I watched as Jr. approached the man.

"Hey, hey, I heard that, man. Would you rather we left you here in space?"

"Uh, n-no, sorry, sir!"

"Look, Little Master, what do you say we just leave this wuss behind?" Matthews said.

I saw that the woman turned away from the others, as if to think.

"He spends all his time moaning and groaning…"

"Hey! Come on, Captain…! c-chaos! Help me out here!"

The boy with white haired (who I assumed was 'chaos') smiled "Well…it's not really up to me, you know. I'd better leave this one to you two."

"Then I'm definitely giving him the boot." I heard Jr. state.

"C…Come on!"

Jr. started to laugh. "Hey man, don't freak out. We're just playing…"

I saw Jr. look at the woman that was thinking and went over to her. I decided to watch.

"What's wrong? Something worrying you?" Jr. asked.

"Huh? Oh, no, it's nothing. I'm Shion Uzuki. Nice to…um…meet you…" The woman said.

"Jr. Gaignun Jr. I got a real name, but let's just leave it at that for now. Good to meet ya." He then looked to Shelley. "Shelley, change the plans. We're returning to the Foundation. Make sure to tell Gaignun that we've secured the final Emulator."

"Roger. Preparing to return to the Foundation."

As this went on, I was introduced to the people that came. I learned that the people (besides Shion, chaos, and Matthews) where MOMO, Ziggy (I held back the urge to laugh when I heard it), and Allen.

MOMO was the little Realian with the pink hair. She was really friendly to me that I could consider her a little sister.

Ziggy, it turned out, happened to be a cyborg (hence his mechanical arm).

Allen was a fellow co-worker of Shion's, who always seemed to be picked on by the others sometimes, for some reason.

chaos was a nice person who always seemed to be calm.

But there was something about chaos. He may have seemed like a boy, but there was something in his eyes that told a different story.

Later we all decided to retire for the time.

* * *

ATE: How was it? Please Review. I won't be updating anytime soon if no one decides to review. Otherwise it will take a long time.


	6. Chapter 5

ATE: I got the next chap up.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga.

* * *

Chapter 5

_In a city that was in ruins and a sky that was like an aurora borealis with an ominous song playing through the air, Jr. was desperately running away from something. Even though he felt tired, he willed himself to keep running. He soon stopped running._

_"Gaignuuuun!" Yelled Jr._

_It suddenly started to rain and Jr. lifted his head to see a dead cat on the ground._

_"Gaignun…"_

_Jr. walked over to the cat and picked it up. He then started to cry quietly as he held it._

_His surrounding soon changed to that a room that was the shape of a hexagon with a hole in the middle. Jr. was holding a boy that had black hair wearing a uniform. The boy opened his green eyes and opened his mouth to say something._

_"Don't say anything…" Jr. said, stopping the boy from speaking. "It's all over… …everything…"_

_Suddenly, a bright light appeared from the hole._

_"Al…bedo…"_

_Suddenly, Jr. started to fall down into an abyss screaming in fear as dark purple lights started to surround him._

-------------------------------------

Jr. woke up and shot into a sitting position holding his neck as his breathing was heavy. He removed his hand looked at the palm of his right hand, revealing the number '666' on it.

"Damn it!" He muttered.

Suddenly there was knocking at his door and he hid his right hand.

"It's open." He called.

---------------------------------------

_**(Jr.'s POV)**_

The door opened to reveal Ayame carrying a tray of food and a cup of some beverage. I watched as she walked into my room, careful not to spill or drop anything from the tray.

"Good morning Jr." She said, a smile coming on her face. I couldn't help but smile in return.

"Morning Ayame." I said. "Why are you here?"

"I brought you something to eat." She placed the tray on the bedside table. "I'll be going now."

"Wait." I said when she was halfway across the room. I watched as she turned to face me. "You can stay."

"You…don't mind?" She asked.

"Of course I don't mind."

I watched as another one of her smiles came on her face.

"Thank you." She came back over and pulled a chair up to the side of the bed so she could sit down.

I picked up the tray of food and saw that it bacon, toast, and something that I was unfamiliar with, but it looked and smelled good. The beverage turned out to be water. I took the fork that was on the tray and took a bite of the food. When it was in my mouth, I noticed that it tasted good.

"This is good." I said. "Did the cooks decide to use a new recipe or something?"

"No." Ayame replied.

I looked at her and saw that there was a small smile on her face.

"Then who made this?"

"I did."

I was surprised that she made this meal. And she made it for me?

"You made this?" I asked.

"Yes." She said.

"How did you make it? We don't exactly have this kind of food around here."

"I remembered when I was in the kitchen and did exactly like I saw myself do in the flashback. If I remembered correctly, it was fried eggs, bacon, and toast."

"Wow. And to think that you remembered how to cook this because of a flashback."

I continued to eat until the meal was finished and placed the tray back on the bedside table.

"Jr. Are you okay?"

I looked to Ayame, confused by what she asked.

"Excuse me?"

"I asked if you were okay. You looked sweaty and I was worried. Are you feeling sick or anything?"

"No."

Just then, Ayame reached over and placed her hand on my forehead. I felt my face heat up as she did this.

"You don't feel like you have a fever or anything." She took her hand away from my forehead. "Is there something wrong?"

I looked down at my bed with my hands in my lap. Should I tell her?

"I had a nightmare." I said.

"What happened?" She asked.

"I was running away from something." It wasn't a complete lie.

"From what?"

"A ghost." That wasn't a complete lie either, since it was the ghost of my past.

I looked to Ayame and saw that she had a concerned look on her face.

"That ghost must've been really scary." She said. "And you're the bravest person I know."

"_Me? The bravest person she knows?_" I thought. "_If only that were true…_" I felt my face heat up from what she said. I looked down at my hands, suddenly finding them interesting. "_I'm the only person she's been around since she woke up._"

I soon felt a hand on top of my right one and looked up to see that it was Ayame's hand.

"Jr. Just know that if you ever need to talk about anything, I'll be there to listen to you." She said. "You're my friend and that's what friends do, right?"

I nodded. "So you're beginning to remember that concept, huh?"

"Yes." She smiled at me.

-----------------------------------------------------

_**(Normal POV AKA Ayame's POV)**_

When I heard Jr. call out, saying that the door way opened, I opened the door and saw that he was sitting on his bed. He was fully dressed in his normal outfit, but he wasn't wearing his black coat. I walked into his room with the tray of food that I brought him, trying not to spill anything on the floor.

"Good morning Jr." I said, a smile coming on my face. I watched as Jr. smiled back at me.

"Morning Ayame." He said. "Why are you here?"

"I brought you something to eat." I placed the tray on the bedside table. "I'll be going now."

I started to make my way back to the door to leave.

"Wait." I was halfway across the room. I turned to face to face Jr., confused at what he would say. "You can stay."

I was a little surprised that he said that.

"You…don't mind?" I asked.

"Of course I don't mind." He stated.

I smiled at Jr.

"Thank you." I came back over and pulled a chair up to the side of the bed so I could sit down.

I watched as Jr. picked up the tray of food and watched as he looked at the food on it. He took the fork that was on the tray and took a bite of the food. When it was in his mouth I saw that his face turned into that of delight.

"This is good." He said. "Did the cooks decide to use a new recipe or something?"

"No." I replied.

I couldn't help but smile when he assumed that. Jr. looked over at me with a confused look on his face.

"Then who made this?"

"I did."

I saw the surprised look on Jr.'s face.

"You made this?" He asked.

"Yes." I said.

"How did you make it? We don't exactly have this kind of food around here."

"I remembered when I was in the kitchen and did exactly like I saw myself do in the flashback. If I remembered correctly, it was fried eggs, bacon, and toast."

I was grateful that that flashback came to me. Otherwise, I would have made him some instant ramen. I mentally laughed at that thought.

"Wow. And to think that you remembered how to cook this because of a flashback."

I continued to watch him eat the food I made until the meal was finished and placed the tray back on the bedside table. I noticed that he looked slightly sweaty and I suddenly became worried.

"Jr. Are you okay?"

He looked to me, confusion clearly on his face from what I said.

"Excuse me?"

"I asked if you were okay. You looked sweaty and I was worried. Are you feeling sick or anything?"

"No."

I then reached over to Jr. and placed my hand on his forehead. I watched as his face turned red at what I did.

"You don't feel like you have a fever or anything." I took my hand away from Jr.'s forehead. "Is there something wrong?"

Jr. looked down at his bed with his hands in his lap.

"I had a nightmare." He told me.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I was running away from something."

"From what?"

"A ghost."

Jr. looked to me with his vivid blue eyes and I couldn't help but feel concerned for him.

"That ghost must've been really scary." I said. "And you're the bravest person I know."

What I said was true. He was the only person that I've been around since I've woken up.

I watched as Jr.'s face turn red and looked down at his hands, as if finding them interesting. I placed my hand on his right hand and watched as he looked up at me.

"Jr. Just know that if you ever need to talk about anything, I'll be there to listen to you." I said. "You're my friend and that's what friends do, right?"

I saw him nodded. "So you're beginning to remember that concept, huh?"

"Yes." I smiled at him. I was glad that I was starting to remember. Even if it took a while for my memories to come back, at least I would have a friend to be there with me.

I felt a hand cover my hand and saw that Jr. did it. Now it was my turn to feel my face heat up.

"_His hand is warm…_" I thought.

"Thanks Ayame." He said.

"You're welcome."

"You've only been out of that capsule for one whole day and already you're starting to cook and get back on your feet, somewhat."

"I know." I said. "I think that maybe if I wasn't placed in that capsule, I wouldn't have been able to meet you. You're a wonderful friend, and even if I remember my past that wouldn't change a thing."

"You're right. But you'll remember you past eventually. You're already starting to remember and that's a good thing."

"I hope so."

* * *

ATE: WOW! This story's got 116 hits already. But with so many hits I only have 2 reviews.

Please Review. If you do, I'll give you chocolate chip cookies. If you don't, Albedo will come and ruin the story.

Albedo: And I wouldn't mind doing so either.

ATE: This guy still gives me the creeps.

Albedo: What was that? (takes out knife and holds it up to ATE)

ATE: (gulps loudly) N-nothing Albedo.

Albedo: I thought so.

ATE: Anyways, please Review.


	7. Chapter 6

ATE: Wow! I got 1 review from the previous chap. yesterday. And they sounded really excited when they read this story too.

Thank you Senom299 for your review and enthusaism for this story. I decided to post this chap today because of you.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga.

* * *

Chapter 6

The next day Jr. took everyone from the Elsa to the Isolation Area in the Durandal and I decided to go with them. Shelley came along also. I remembered that he told me that they kept important stuff in that area and I wanted to know what kind of stuff it could be.

The vast room had those huge plates, thirteen in all, surrounding the big room.

"What is this place?" MOMO asked as she looked around. "The environmental controls here seem extremely strict…"

"They're so big… Six to each side, with one directly across…" Shion said.

"Thirteen in all." Ziggy said. "Looks like each block has a name inscribed on it."

"You've got great eyesight!" She said to the cyborg. She looked to the names on the plates. "Hmm, let's see… Peter…Andrew…Boanerges…Thomas…John… Umm…"

KOS-MOS picked up where Shion left off. "Philip, Matthew, Bartholomew, James, Thaddaeus, Simon, Judas."

"_That's strange…all those names sounded familiar…_" I thought. "_Have I heard them from somewhere before I lost my memories?_"

"And the last one…" Shion asked.

"It appears to say Marienkind."

"Marienkind…" She said to herself. "I think I've heard that somewhere…"

"It means, 'the child of Mary.'" Shelley stated.

"This is where we store all the really dangerous items. Stuff like this…" Jr. said as he activated the console that made the metal of the plates come off, revealing huge golden cross-like objects, each having a different red colored symbol in the middle of them.

I heard Shion gasp in surprise. "Zohars?!

"Actually, they're all Emulators." I looked to my red-haired friend. "And they've all been sealed, including the one we just retrieved."

"_So these are the Emulators that Jr. spoke about._ _Is that why they had been covered with metal?_" I thought.

"Why are these Zohars here…?"

"Well, our corporation does dabble a little in everything. Besides, these days, you can't get by without having something to deal with the Gnosis. And we definitely can't wait around for the Federation to get off its lazy butt."

"What's in the room across from here?" MOMO asked, revering to the door that was across from where we had entered the Isolation Area.

"Nothing pleasant, I'll tell you that much." Jr. said, looking at the door behind him.

"You're not going to show us?" Shion asked.

"Trust me, it ain't something you'd want to see." He said, turning back to face us while shaking his head.

I could tell by the look in Jr.'s eyes that whatever was behind that door must've been something so horrible that he would have a reason not to show them, and possibly me.

"Even if we were to consider the diversity of your businesses, you're still a foundation, right? I mean, the weaponry on this ship far outclass those on any warship… Who are you people, anyway…?"

Jr. started walking over to the console that was beside the door. "We were more or less a government organization, previously." He opened the door to the room. "Well… I guess if you want to see it that badly…"

All of us went into the room and saw the creatures inside the containers.

"What is this?" Shion asked. She looked at the container we were in front of and she gasped.

I wondered why she gasped until I looked at the creature in the container and gasped myself as my eyes went wide. Inside was a woman who was so horribly mutated that it looked like something straight from a nightmare. I suddenly felt sick to the stomach.

"I warned you, you weren't gonna like it, didn't I?" Jr. asked as he walked up to where Shion and I were with a sad look on his face. He expression became stronger when he looked to me, to the point that it reached his eyes as he went to stand next to the container.

"All of these specimens appear to be humans whose bodies turned into Gnosis." KOS-MOS said.

"Transformed bodies… I've only heard of them before…" Ziggy said as he looked around at the containers.

"Most people just turn white and shatter to pieces, but there are a few exceptions…and they end up like this." He said as he placed his right hand on the glass of the container. "We've named this one Betty, for now. It's hard to look straight at them… But I don't want to refer to them by some code name or number. It's just not right to treat the dead like mere objects."

"Is that a lady?" MOMO asked.

"She was a little girl…the last time we saw her."

"_T-that was a little girl? That's…that's so horrible…!_" I thought.

"People turning into Gnosis…? Have you learned anything about them?" Allen asked.

"Not much. Plenty of Gnosis remains have been recovered to date, but nobody's learned a thing from them. You know what they're composed of?"

"No…"

"Sodium chloride…plain old salt. Even their translucent bodies…they're mostly made up of water and sodium hydroxide. How can ordinary compounds like that form creatures like them? No one really knows why those who survive Gnosis encounters always turn into one of them. Some people think they're a new type of virus; others say they're beings from another dimension who take on temporary forms in this one."

"Always…? No exceptions?" Shion asked.

"Nope. Not as far as I know." Jr. replied.

"So they could be from another dimension? Wouldn't that mean that their true forms might exist somewhere else…?" Allen asked.

"Who knows? All that's certain is that they're hostile to humans. Not that such a sentiment is unique to them."

I saw Allen look at Shion and saw that she looked like there was something troubling her.

"_I don't blame her…_" I thought.

"Chief, is something wrong? You don't look so good."

"Huh? No, don't worry… It's nothing…" She then turned to Jr. "So…so when did this all begin…?"

"Unofficially, phenomena like this have been occurring periodically for the past few centuries. But…after a certain incident, the Gnosis leapt into the forefront of history…"

"A certain incident?" MOMO asked.

"The Miltian Conflict. Joachim Mizrahi…" Jr. said. "It was he who opened Pandora's Box and unleashed the Gnosis upon the galaxy… And we're all paying for his ambition."

"Joachim Mizrahi… The brilliant scientist who founded the U-TIC Organization…" Shion said.

"Brilliant? He was a lunatic. Unable to bear his curiosity, he invited the Gnosis into our world."

"A lunatic…?" MOMO's voice was soft and was barely noticeable. I watched as she started to walk away from us.

"The Foundation was established after the war by the newly formed Second Miltian government, to clean up and investigate the facts behind the incident.

Technically, that's our real job. Problem is, the funding's tight in peacetime.

On top of that, running the Foundation takes a staggering amount of money, and the management of these Zohars ain't cheap, either. So, we ended up privatizing part of our operations and became a foundation. We never imagined that some of our side businesses would hit it so big, though."

I continued to watch until MOMO was gone. I immediately felt sorry for her.

We headed outside of the room. That was when everyone noticed that MOMO was gone.

"Where's MOMO?" Ziggy asked.

I took this chance to say something.

"I saw her leaving when Jr. was talking about Joachim Mizrahi." I said. "I think it really bothered her."

"We should find her." Shion said.

Allen then came up to Shion.

"Shelley called for me, so I'm heading over to Durandal's bridge." He said.

"I wonder where MOMO went?"

Shion was about to leave when I walked over to her.

"Hey Shion?" I asked.

"Yes Ayame?" She said as she turned to look at me.

"Can I come with you to look for MOMO? I'm worried about her too."

"Of course you can." She smiled at me.

------------------------------------------------------

After awhile of searching for MOMO, we found her in the Park Area sitting on a bench.

"What do you all think…? Joachim Mizrahi, the lunatic…" She said talking to herself. "Was daddy really like that? Since daddy built us, does that mean Realians are bad people, too?"

Shion, KOS-MOS and I walked over to MOMO.

"MOMO… We were looking all over for you." Shion said.

"Hello, Shion…" MOMO said looking at Shion.

"What's wrong? You look kinda down."

"Shion… I…" Shion sat down next to her as I did the same, while KOS-MOS stood. "I was created by Joachim Mizrahi. He designed the 100-Series Realians back when the Federation funded him."

"I know…"

"Shion, I… Daddy wasn't a lunatic. …I don't even know what I am."

"Identity diffusion… The eternal dilemma."

"_Identity diffusion is the eternal dilemma…?_" I thought. "_Am I experiencing it?_"

Shion held her hand out as a firefly landed on it.

"Do you know about the environmental bugs onboard this ship? They're actually nanomachines, you know, used to keep enclosed spaces like this clean. I'd say that…of all the things Professor Mizrahi – or anyone else – created, they rank up there pretty high. These bugs may be man-made, but they function as if they've existed all along. Almost as if they were meant to be… I think Realians are the same. The only difference between us, is the length of our histories. But regardless of our origins, each one of us has an important role to fulfill in this world. Besides, I really doubt Dr. Mizrahi was a dangerous person like everyone makes him out to be. And it's not just because of the environmental bugs. The work he did on Realians was incredibly insightful." Shion said.

"The fundamental Gnosis research Professor Mizrahi left behind played a critical role in the development of modern anti-Gnosis technology." KOS-MOS said.

"Thanks for the backup, KOS-MOS! I'm really glad to see you react like that. Empathizing with the feelings of others is a major factor in human relationships."

"Although I do not believe that the current situation called for me to act in an empathetic manner, I am pleased to be of service to you."

MOMO then started to giggle. "…I think KOS-MOS is really funny. Too bad she doesn't take instructions very well." She said. "I never got to meet Daddy, but he used to talk to me all the time before I was born. It's all a little hazy, but I remember him telling me that… I could become a real person if I did good deeds…"

"Really? That's a wonderful memory to have…"

"Uh-huh."

"A wonderful memory…" I said. "If only I could remember my parents…"

"Oh, that's right." Shion said as she turned to me. "You don't really remember your life before you woke up from that capsule Jr. told us about."

I nodded. "I don't even remember my real name." I looked up at the ceiling. "And I highly doubt that there would be any information from the time of Lost Jerusalem about me either."

"Chief!"

We all turned around to see Allen running into the Park.

"Great news! After this ship arrives at the Kukai Foundation, they're gonna take us to Second Miltia!"

"Second Miltia? Really?" Shion asked.

"Apparently, they have some work to take care of out there. The Captain's still whining about repairing the Elsa, but…"

"Some work…? I wonder…?"

"Huh?"

"Well… I'm sure they've got their own reasons, but don't you think it's a little strange that everyone's heading for Miltia?"

"Not really… It's probably just a coincidence. I'm just glad we saved some money. Not to mention that this ship's a million times better equipped than the Elsa. And we'll have nothing to worry about if we run into the Gnosis again. Hey, speaking of which, did you check out your room? They all have jacuzzis and minibars, and…" Allen stopped talking and looked at Shion. "Hey, what's wrong, Chief?"

Shion sighed. "Nothing, nothing. I'm just jealous of how easily swayed you are…"

I started to laugh mentally at what was going on. Allen acted like a kid on Christmas and it was just funny.

I turned to MOMO.

"I hope we were able to cheer you up, MOMO." I said.

"Don't worry. You did. Thank you so much Ayame." She said.

"It was no problem."

I then left for my room in the Residential Area to sleep. Tomorrow we would be arriving at the Kukai Foundation.

* * *

ATE: I believe that any of you that have finished this chap would noticed that Ayame didn't talk so much and mostly thought about what was happening around her.

Anyways, Please Review, it really helps.

Gaignun: Only you can prevent a bad story.

ATE: (looks at Gaignun) Uh...isn't it supposed to be 'only you can prevent forest fires'?

Gaignun: And if it is?

ATE: I think you've seen to many Smoky the Bear commercials. (Realizes something) Wait a minute, you're not supposed to be here!

Gaignun: I was wondering how long it would take you to figure that out.

ATE: That's besides the point! You not supposed to make your cameo yet!

Gaignun: But I'll be in appearing in the next chapter anyways.

Albedo: You're defying the laws of the authoress, Nigredo.

ATE: Albedo what are you doing here?!

Albedo: Trying to help your cause to get ride of Nigredo.

ATE: You're not supposed to be here either, Albedo!

Jr.: Ha! She got ya both there!

Albedo: Rubedo's not supposed to be here, is he my authoress?

ATE: On the contrary Albedo, Jr.'s actually allowed since he's been seen throughout the story so far. That means you and Gaignun need to leave.

Albedo: Damn you Rubedo. You lucky bastard... (walks away)

Gaignun: I shall respect the authoress and leave. (walks away)

ATE: I think Albedo's jealous of you Jr.

Jr.: Albedo jealous? He always acts like this when he doesn't get his way.

ATE: Another reminder to the readers. Please REVIEW!!!!! :)


	8. Chapter 7

ATE: Okay, things are starting to look up with 5 reviews now. Anyways, we now have chap 7, so go read.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own Andrea/Ayame.

* * *

Chapter 7

I woke up that morning to knocking on my door and went to answer it. When I answered it, I found that it was Jr. waiting outside.

"Good morning Jr." I said.

"Morning Ayame." He said. "I just wanted to tell you that we'll be arriving at the Foundation soon."

"That soon?"

"Yeah. We're all going to meet in the Park Area, so when you're ready you should come there."

"Okay."

With that Jr. left to go to the Park Area. I might as well get ready myself. I put on my sky blue coat and left my room. When I left my room I saw the others heading to the Park Area as well so I followed them to that location.

We soon got to the Park Area and I looked out the big window to see that we were flying towards a place floating in space. On closer inspection I saw that there were buildings.

"Wow. That place is unbelievable." I said.

"So that's the Kukai Foundation?" Allen asked as he looked out the window. "They sure know how to spend their money…"

MOMO nodded as she looked out the window as well. "I can't wait to see the Durandal turn into a skyscraper… It's so beautiful…"

"What? We're…going to dock, just like this?" Shion asked surprised.

"This ship's supposedly one of the most famous landmarks in the Foundation." Allen told her. "I saw it in a travel guide on the Elsa."

"Oh, really? I'd never know… I don't check out vacation guides very often…"

"Oh, look, we're docking!" MOMO said excitingly.

The Durandal was soon docking vertically into the Foundation. We watched as our view changed to being vertical as the ship came out of the water, making it splash everywhere. The ship was soon docked and stood proudly over the other buildings in the Foundation.

"_This is amazing._" I thought.

"New Year's Eve is the best time to visit." I turned around and saw man with black hair and green eyes wearing a black suit walking into the Park Area with Mary and Shelly on each side of him. "The evening metropolis is quite a sight to behold with all her lights."

"Gaignun Kukai…" Ziggy said. "The managing director of the Kukai Foundation."

"_He looks like…_" I thought.

"Huh? Jr.…?" Shion whispered.

Gaignun walked up to Shion and stood in front of her.

"What was that?" He asked.

"Ah, nothing… Nice to meet you."

"Welcome to the Kukai Foundation." He held out his hand to Shion.

I watched as Shion looked down at Gaignun's hand and stare at it. Why was she doing that? She soon shook his hand.

"I heard about your situation from Captain Matthews and chaos. Is everything all right?"

"Oh, uh, yes. Thank you for all your help." Shion said.

"Enjoy your stay."

I watched as Gaignun walked over to MOMO.

"And you must be MOMO." He then knelt down so he was eye leveled with her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I've received word from Juli Mizrahi of the Contact Subcommittee. We'll make sure you got to Miltia safely."

"From…Mommy?!" MOMO asked.

"Right." Gaignun nodded. "She told me to take good care of you."

"Can I…talk to her?"

"Well…she seemed pretty busy." He said.

"Oh…I see… Why doesn't Mommy ever want to see me?" She asked sadly.

"I'll let you know as soon as I hear from her again."

"All right… Thank you very much…"

I saw Gaignun stand up. I thought he was going to leave but he then made his way over to where I was until he stood in front of me.

"You must be Ayame." He said.

"Y-yes I am." I said.

"_How did he know?_" I thought. "_Did Jr. tell him before?_"

"I welcome you to the Kukai Foundation as well." He said as he held out his hand.

I was about to shake it when I saw the number '669' on the palm of his hand.

"Sorry about that, Sir." I apologized as I shook it. "I wasn't sure what to do at first, that's all."

"It's alright."

Gaignun started to leave with Mary and Shelley with him.

"_Is that why Shion hesitated in shaking Gaignun's hand?_" I thought.

I looked up and saw that Gaignun had stopped near the doorway and turned his head to the side.

"_What the…?_"

I saw Gaignun soon leave the Park Area. Why did he do that?

-----------------------------------------------------------

Later that day Jr. was relaxing in Gaignun's office with his feet propped up on his desk while he sat in his chair.

"That android, KOS-MOS…she's got an incredible amount of potential, you know. There's no way she's just a prototype. I'm also concerned about how she resonated with the Emulators." Jr. said.

"The Hilbert Effect… I heard they lost the archetype, but it looks like there's more to this than it seems…" Gaignun said. "And don't forget about her engineer… What was her name? Shion? And that other girl, Ayame. I think they might be on to us…and our powers."

"No way." Jr. looked to Gaignun. "They're just ordinary humans."

"They might not be as ordinary as you think." The older man looked to Jr.

"I doubt it." Jr. placed his arms behind his head. "They seem normal enough to me, though Ayame has amnesia. But I guess it's possible, though. After all, she's involved in the highest classified part of that project… The same one Helmer's involved in…"

"The Zohar Project…"

"Listen…" Jr. said. "Why don't we…lay off the Mizrahi talk for a while."

"Hmm… Concerned about that MOMO girl?"

"Don't look at me like that." Jr. pointed his finger at Gaignun. "You think she likes being called the child of a madman? After all, we were both there when Mizrahi finally met his end. We saw what happened. You know that girl's a Realian. Her memory might be imprinted with something…"

"So you're saying the image she holds of Mizrahi is a false one?"

"I don't know. That's why I want you to lay off when you're around her. At least for now, anyway."

"If you're that concerned about her, why don't you invite her down to the beach? I'm sure it'll help take her mind off of things."

"Man… I told you, it's not like that!" Jr. protested as he got out of the chair.

"And what you said about that Ayame girl having amnesia, how did that happen?" Gaignun asked.

"None of us know how she got amnesia. We only found her inside a capsule in suspended animation when we attacked one of U-TIC's battleships."

"I know that if someone were to be put into suspended animation, their capsule would have the year when they were sealed inside. What was the year on her capsule?"

"Her capsule had 2008 A.D. on it. The year Lost Jerusalem was still populated with people."

"You know, we could have asked her for information on Lost Jerusalem and what it was like in her time."

"But sadly she has amnesia." Jr. said sadly as he looked to the ground. "She doesn't even remember her own name so we gave her the name 'Ayame' for now, at least until she remembers her real name. While she was with us, she told me that she had some flashbacks that might have something to do with her memories, but she's worried since they're coming to her slowly."

"So you're concerned about her as well?" Gaignun said. "Why don't you take her to the beach with the others."

Jr. started to blush, but it quickly went away with his response.

"I thought I told you not to look at me like that! And it's not like that with her either!"

Jr. started to walk for the door as Gaignun picked up a box.

"Hey."

Jr. turned around as the box came his way and caught it.

"…What's this?"

Jr. went over to the pool table (AN: It looked like a pool table when I played the game, so I'm calling it a pool table, if it looks like a pool table then it's likely that it IS a pool table). Placing the box on it, he opened it and was surprised at what he saw!

"Man, it's a stainless-steel finish Makarov! With the original box and everything!"

"I won it at a Lion's Heart auction. It was part of their antique weapons collection." Gaignun told him.

"This isn't like you. You're up to something." Jr. looked at him with a suspicious look on his face.

"Not at all. I just though I'd reward you for all the hard work you've done for us recently… Have I gone too far?"

Jr. started shaking his head 'no' as he said 'nuh-uh'.

"Don't go shooting that thing all over the place. Remember, you're older then I am. Try to act like it once in a while, all right?"

Gaignun left the room closing the door behind him.

"Sweeeet!" Jr. yelled excitedly when the door was closed.

Gaignun sighed when he heard this and walked away.

* * *

ATE: Thank you for reading chap 7. And before i forget, I wanted people to know that I'm starting to worry about the Xenosaga characters being OOC, so if anyone notices any of the Xeno characters being OOC, then tell me in a review. Remember Please Review :)


	9. Chapter 8

ATE: Sorry to all the readers. It's been awhile since I updated so I'm making it up to all of you readers by posting it now at 10:24 PM tonight.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own my OC Andrea/Ayame.

* * *

Chapter 8

I was sitting in my room in the Residential Area thinking about what happened. Although…I seem to be doing that a lot lately.

Earlier I had heard Shion call Gaignun Kukai by the name 'Jr.' I remembered seeing the number '669' on his hand. And before he left, I saw him looking sideways and it made me wonder. Did he know that I saw that number on his hand? It could have been a tattoo, right?

I faintly heard a doorbell and on instinct I said 'it's open.' I was too deep in thought that I didn't hear someone walk into my room.

"_Everything is so confusing._" I thought.

"…me…?"

"_Was that number really a tattoo on Gaignun's hand?_"

"…ame…?"

"_Would Jr. have a tattoo as well?_"

"YO AYAME!"

The voice was right in my ear and it startled me, causing me to fall out of the chair I was sitting on and fall to the floor. To make matters worse, I hit my head on the table while falling. I now had pain in my head.

"Ow…" I started to rub the place the table hit in order to soothe it.

"Are you okay?"

I looked to my right and saw Jr. kneeling down beside me with a worried expression on his face.

"Jr.? What are you doing here?"

Jr. sighed.

"'What am I doing here?' You let me in when I rang the doorbell, and when I came in here, you were in a daze." He said. "I kept calling you but you wouldn't answer. Were you having another flashback?"

"No." I said. "I was thinking about something."

"About what?"

I didn't think he would ask me this so I made something up.

"Tattoos."

"Tattoos…?" He asked confused.

"Yes."

We got off the floor in order to stand.

"Well anyways, I did come here for a reason."

"You did?"

"Yeah. We're going to the Foundation with the others to play."

"To…play? Play what?"

"Can't tell you. It's a surprise." He said. "We're all going to meet at the shuttle launch in the Docking Area, so go there when you're ready."

Jr. started to make his way to the door, but stopped.

"Oh yeah." He said. Jr. turned around while pulling out a package. "This is for you."

He tossed the package to me and I caught it.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Another thing I can't tell you. You can open it when we get to the place we're going to."

"Okay."

"And Ayame?" I looked to Jr., letting him know I was listening to him. Suddenly his face turned red. "Just so you know…Mary and Shelly picked it out and bought it."

Jr. quickly left the room and I wondered why he was blushing. I looked to the package in my hand and was curious of what it was. I was tempted to open it, but decided against it since I promised him I wouldn't open it.

---------------------------------------------------

I made my way to the shuttle launch in the Docking Area, where I found Jr., Shion, MOMO, Allen, and chaos waiting for me.

"Looks like you made it." Shion said. "Is everyone ready?"

Everyone said yes.

"I'm really excited." MOMO said.

We all boarded the shuttle and sat down. I sat with Shion and MOMO, while the guys sat together.

"Do you know where we're going?" I whispered to Shion.

"Yes, but Jr. told us not to tell you." She said.

"Why?"

"He wanted it to be a surprise for you."

I looked to MOMO.

"Were you also sworn to secrecy MOMO?"

"Yes. I'm sorry I can't tell you, but Jr. must have a reason not to tell you either."

"Oh…okay…" I looked at me lap, feeling slightly left out.

I heard the guys whispering, but I couldn't hear what was being said.

The shuttle soon landed in the Kukai Foundation and we got off the vehicle. I was amazed at what I saw as I looked around the Launch Pad. The place was…amazing.

"I'd like to welcome you to the Kukai Found." Jr. said. He then turned to me. "This is probably the first time you've seen or been in a city since you've been sealed inside a capsule for 4,000 years."

"Yes it is." I said.

"Well, since this is your first time here, I don't want you to see where you're going for now." I watched as Jr. took out a black bandanna. "So I'm gonna have to blindfold you with this bandanna."

"W-wait! Is this really necessary?!" I asked.

Jr. nodded his head.

"You must be joking. Because if you are this isn't very funny!"

"Who said I was joking?" He asked.

"You really are serious about this!" My eyes widened.

Jr. started to grin.

"You know…we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"And what are they?" I started to feel uneasy.

"The easy way is that you cooperate with me and let me blindfold you, and the hard way is that we restrain you while I blindfold you. Your pick."

I didn't have to think twice about what to choose.

"Fine…I'll cooperate…."

"Good to see that you decided to listen." Jr. said. "Could you stand on your knees so I can tie the bandanna over your eyes?"

I immediately stood on my knees so he could reach. Jr. walked behind me and soon the black bandanna was around my eyes. I felt him tie it firmly so it would come off. I heard Jr. walk around me and then he stopped.

"Okay Ayame. You can stand now."

I stood up carefully since I couldn't see. And since the bandanna was black I wouldn't be able to see through it, so now I had to rely on my other senses.

"How am I going to know where I going when I can't see a thing?" I asked.

"Don't worry. You're just going to have to hold my hand for now." He said. "My hand's in front of you just so you know."

I carefully reached out and felt for Jr.'s hand. I soon felt my hand brush up against another hand and felt it grasp mine. Judging by the size of it in my hand I knew that it was Jr.'s.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

We all started to walk somewhere; the sound of many footsteps reached my ears and knew that it was the others. I would have to trust Jr. about where we're going.

"_I guess this is what it's like to be blind._" I thought.

As we walked I could hear people talking to each other excitedly. I guess this city was pretty lively.

Soon I heard us walking on something that sounded like wood that then changed to a soft ground that I felt like I was sinking a little. I suddenly felt Jr. let go of my hand.

"Okay. You can take the blindfold off now." Jr. said.

I reached up behind my head where the knot was and started to untie it. When I took the bandanna off, my eyes had to adjust to the sudden change of lighting since I was used to the dim lighting that the bandanna had provided. When I finally adjusted to the brightness of the light, what I saw was amazing. We were on…

"…A beach…?" I muttered.

I saw Jr. standing in front of me with a smile on his face.

"Yeah." He said. "Are you surprised?"

"Yes. But why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

"I didn't want to tell you, since I wanted to see if you'd remember something when we got here. Do you remember anything?"

I started to remember something.

_I was on a beach with a group that consisted of three girls and boys, all in swimsuits. One of the boys was surfing on a surfboard while the others (including myself) were in the water that came up to our waists. We were all splashing each other with water. _

_Suddenly one of the boys with us went deeper into the water as he waited for a wave to come._

"_What are you doing, Matt?" One of the girls asked._

"_I'm gonna bodysurf, Sarah. Ever heard of it?" He said._

"_Yes, I've heard of it, but I don't think you'll be able to do it with small waves like those." Sarah said._

"_Watch me!"_

_Soon a bigger wave came and I watched as Matt turned around so his back was to the wave. At the last second he leaned forward and he was bodysurfing on the wave. He only stopped when he was in front of us when the wave crashed._

"_Good job, Matt!" On of the boys said._

"_Thanks, Daniel!" Matt said. "I'm a pro at this!"_

"_I've seen other people bodysurf better than you." Another girl said._

"_Sure you have, Emily."_

"_Hey, I thought we came here to have fun, not to debate whose better at bodysurfing." I said._

"_You're right ______. That isn't why we came here."_

"…Yes, I remembered something." I said. "I was so close to hearing my real name, but it was a blank."

"That's sad." Shion said. "But you'll remember eventually."

"And besides, we came here to have fun, not to worry about that." Jr. said.

"_That sounded like what I said in my flashback…_" I thought.

"The changing room is that building over there." He pointed to a little building that had two doors. "Let's get changed and have fun!"

We all made our way to the building and there were signs that told which room was for what gender. Shion, MOMO, and I entered the door on the left while the guys went into the right.

When we were inside I saw that there were three stalls and I entered on of them. I soon remembered the package that Jr. gave me and took it out. I opened it and immediately blushed when I saw what it was.

It was a lilac colored two piece swimsuit that had a thin lilac sash for the bottom part. It was pretty but I suddenly thought that I would feel somewhat self conscious wearing it.

"_So that's why Jr. told me that Mary and Shelly picked this out and bought it._" I thought.

I soon changed into the swimsuit (but kept my necklace on) and came out of the stall where Shion and MOMO waited for me.

Shion wore a white and black two piece swimsuit while MOMO wore a light pink one piece and had two light green hair doodads in her pink hair.

"Wow Ayame. Your swimsuit is pretty." MOMO said.

"T-thanks…" I said.

"What's wrong?" Shion asked.

"I'm a little self-conscious in this swimsuit…"

"It's okay. You look fine to me."

We all went outside where we waited for the guys to come out. They soon came out and I felt my face heat up slightly.

Jr. wore white and blue swim trunks and had an armlet on his left arm, chaos wore black, orange and white swim trunks, and Allen wore a green and white striped body suit like swimsuit.

I immediately felt the heat in my face go back to normal. Jr. MOMO, chaos, and I went to play beach ball, while Allen went in the water and Shion laid down in a beach chair (AN: serious, if you played the game and seen the part where they're at the beach, you would notice that there was someone swimming in the water while Shion was sitting in the chair and the other were playing beach ball).

I was having so much fun. This was probably the first time in a long time that I had this much fun (or probably the first since I couldn't actually remember).

I noticed that Allen and MOMO went over to Shion (who was holding a screen in front of her), and decided to go over as well.

"What's the matter, Chief?" Allen asked. "You didn't come down to the beach just to stare at a screen all day, did you?"

"Come on, Shion! Why don't you come and play with us?" MOMO said.

"Sorry. In a bit…" Shion said.

MOMO walked over to Shion's side and bend down to look at the screen. I went over as well and saw a picture of KOS-MOS' face on the screen.

"Are you working on KOS-MOS? It must be really tough."

"She's got a lot of black box areas that even we can't analyze." Allen said.

"Black box?" MOMO asked.

"Yeah. We're painstaking analyzing her bit by bit so that we can recreate her original form again. The only person who knew everything about KOS-MOS was Kevin…"

Shion turns off the semi-transparent mini computer (which I learned was a connection gear).

"Say, Allen. Do you think Gaignun and Jr. are father and son? They look a little too far apart in age to be brothers." Shion asked.

"I've heard rumors here and there." Allen said. "Some say Gaignun cloned himself, while others say Jr.'s his illegitimate son, or…"

"I don't think he's a clone." MOMO said. "Their genome arrays are a little too different for that…"

"Wow! You can actually see that, MOMO?" Shion asked.

"I'm an Observation Realian… They're more than just siblings, or father and son, but at the same, time they're not identical, either…"

"_More than siblings, or father and son, but not identical either? How is that possible?_" I thought.

"Is that sort of thing possible? Their DNA only has to differ by 0.1% to make them different people, right?" Shion asked.

"Hey, who's an illegitimate son?"

We all turned around and saw Jr. standing behind us. Did he hear what we were talking about?

"Uhh…man, this beach is really great! It doesn't feel artificial at all." Allen said suddenly.

I looked to Allen and mentally thanked him for the excuse.

"It's our latest product. You can even change the weather!" Jr. said as he took out a remote. "You can't have blue skies all the time, right?"

Jr. activated the remote by pressing the button and suddenly dark cloud started to appear in the sky and over the beach as the sound of thunder was heard in the background.

"I hate…thunder…" Shion whispered.

"Shion?"

Jr. pressed another button on the remote and thunder appeared in the sky.

"Stop it!! I hate thunder!!" Shion yelled as she went into a kneeling position, tensed up. "I'm sorry… I just…really hate thunder…"

Jr. pressed a button on the remote that stopped the thunder. I saw that Shion was scared and I was worried about her.

"_Maybe Shion had bad memories that made her scared of thunder… Poor Shion…_" I thought sadly.

"Shion…" I heard chaos muttered.

* * *

ATE: I'm finally finished with this chap. Reviews are very much appreciated at this point. Please Review :)


	10. Chapter 9

ATE: Sorry I haven't updated in so long (again). Yesterday I just came back from a week of skiing. Hope this makes it up to all the people reading this story.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. It rightfully belongs to Namco, who gave us Pac-Man.

* * *

Chapter 9

Gaignun sat in his office at his desk. In front of him was a screen with a black man who had a bald head.

"Representative Helmer, busy as always I see." Gaignun said, smiling at the person, who did the same as well.

"Well hello, Nigredo. How are things going?"

Gaignun frowned. "Hmph. I don't really care for that name."

"My apologies. I'm still not accustomed to calling you 'Gaignun'." Helmer said. "So, how can I help you?"

"We're currently headed your way and we're carrying an unusual package, so I thought it best to inform you."

"Oh…?"

"We secured it from an unexpected source… the Federation cruiser Woglinde." Gaignun said. "It's an Emulator."

"The twelfth one… That matches the U-TIC records."

"Right. There's no question that it's responsible for the planetary disappearance. Assuming they haven't constructed any more, that's all of them. Aside from the Original, of course."

"That's clearly impossible…now that the only man who can create them is no longer alive." Helmer stated.

"True enough… And one more thing." Gaignun leaned forward in his chair. "We have the Contact Subcommittee's 100-Series prototype."

"How did that wind up in your hands?"

"One of our passenger freighters rescued her 76 hours ago."

"Is the ability to attract that sort of coincidence another one of your special powers?"

"Not a coincidence, but a probability…as a certain acquaintance might say." Gaignun said. "Anyway, I'm concerned with what the U-TIC Organization is up to. You may want to step up your precautions."

"I'll see what I can sniff out from the U.M.N. administration bureau." Helmer said. "We can locate any large-scale gate jumps from there."

"Excellent idea. Assuming they have no Emulators in their possession, the odds are that they'll go after the Original sealed on Old Miltia. Not to mention…"

"U-DO…"

"I don't know what their ultimate goal is, but we can't allow that thing to reawaken again. No matter what."

"Understood. We'll prepare for your arrival. I'm looking forward to seeing you again."

The screen turned off and Gaignun got off his chair to stand.

----------------------------------------------------

After having fun at the beach we all changed back into our clothes. When I got out of the changing room I noticed Shion talking to Allen.

"Well, I'm going to go back to the Elsa to check on KOS-MOS." Allen said. "Are you sure you will be all right? Chief…"

"Yeah…sorry for losing it earlier." Shion said. "I don't…have very good memories of thunder…"

"Chief…"

"I'm a little tired, so maybe I'll rest at a hotel in City Sector 27, I'll go to the Elsa after I get a little rest. Please take care of KOS-MOS until then."

"All right. Um, Chief? Please don't push yourself too hard."

"Yes, I know."

I started making my way over to Shion.

"Hi Shion." I greeted as I came to stand next to her.

"Oh, hello Ayame." She said. "Did you enjoy the beach?"

"Yes I did. I think it's pretty. Do you?."

"Yeah…" She looked to the ground.

I looked to Shion, suddenly feeling concern for her.

"Shion, are you feeling okay?" I asked.

Shion looked up at me.

"What? Oh, I'm okay."

Soon Jr., MOMO, and chaos came out of the changing room and walked over to us.

"Okay, now that everyone is here, we'll go to the hotel in City Sector 27." Jr. said.

"Jr.?" Jr. looked to me. "Are you going to blindfold me again?" I asked unsurely.

"'Am I going to blindfold you again?'" Jr. chuckled. "I don't see a need to blindfold you again since you already know about the beach."

I sighed in relief.

"On second thought, maybe I'll blindfold you again."

"What!?"

My eyes widened as I looked at Jr. Suddenly everyone started to laugh and I was confused.

"Relax, I was only joking." Jr. said as he calmed down. "Let's get going."

We started heading to the entrance of the beach when we saw Ziggy.

"Oh, Ziggy!" Shion said. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, I just came to see how you were doing…" Ziggy said.

"Sure that's what you say, but the real reason why you came here is because you wanted to play, right?" Jr. said.

Ziggy noticed Shion's appearance.

"Are you all right? You don't look well."

"Oh, it's nothing really." Shion said. "I'm completely fine."

"Okay. If you say so, but it's better not to push yourself too much."

"Yes, I know."

We all made our way to City Sector 27 to the hotel there. As we walked I couldn't help but look at the buildings. We soon came to the hotel and went inside where we talked to the innkeeper.

"Welcome!" She said. "Oh, you must be Director Gaignun's guests. I have already received payment from Director Gaignun, so please make yourselves at home."

We went to the rooms where we rested for the day.

------------------------------------------------------------

The next day we all met back downstairs.

"Ah, I feel much better!" Shion said. "Oh, Allen's probably waiting. I better hurry back to the Elsa and start the maintenance on KOS-MOS."

We made our way to the Launch Pad and rode the shuttle back to the Durandal. Shion and the others went into the Elsa as I took the subway to the Park Area were I would relax.

-----------------------------------------------------

In Pleroma, Commander Margulis was speaking to a man with shades by communication monitor.

"Current output is 5.806 LPP. Not even 3% of the required levels." The man on the screen said.

"In other words, you're saying it's impossible to open the door to Lost Jerusalem…" Margulis stated.

"Open the door? It's doubtful whether we can even find it." The man said. "I've told you repeatedly that the Emulators were mere supplements. You're the one who ignored that. Because of you, we've lost a valuable asset. I've done what I can with what we have, but it's not going to make much difference. Even Mizrahi couldn't pull this off without the Original."

"So, have you finally come to acknowledge that lunatic's work?"

"I'm just being objective. No one in the universe is as knowledgeable in this field as he was."

"We can't keep our commander waiting any longer. We'll proceed with Plan 401."

"Plan 401…" The man mused "That seems a bit extreme to me. The 100-Series that Helmer's protégé is babysitting…not only does it contain the entire record of Mizrahi's research, but the access code for the U.M.N. transfer column to the sealed area of Old Miltia, also resides in it. Treating it too roughly, and you'll lose everything."

"I'm well aware of the importance of Miltia and the Y Data. That's why I'm using him."

"I do not like him. His eyes share the same look as Mizrahi's."

"The same as yours?" Margulis asked.

"Well, I'll be waiting for the good news."

The man broke contact as the screen disappeared.

"Pellegri." Margulis looked over to the woman next to him. "Secure a channel to our commander. I want to report this and discuss our plans for manipulating the committee."

-------------------------------------------------

Out in space a man with white hair piloting a white A.G.W.S. with a Realian with the same colored hair was speaking to Commander Margulis by intercom.

"I see." He said. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"The situation is proceeding as planned. Don't interfere with it for now." Margulis said as he looked at the man on the screen "Of course, I can't imagine the Second Miltian government and the Kukai Foundation will simply hand it over. If the situation warrants, we may have to use… …the song of Nephilim."

"Now this is a surprise. I thought you hated it with a passion."

"I'm just saying, even your toys have their uses."

"Then why don't you join me? We can enjoy the show together."

"Thanks, I'll pass. I don't share your perverse taste in hobbies." Margulis shook his head.

The man started laughing loudly.

"Yeah right, you gutless bastard." The man broke contact with Margulis.

"Albedo…a U.R.T.V. A monster born of Life Recycling." Pellegri said. "There are plenty of mentally unstable Life Recycling Variants out there… Just as Cherenkov was one of them. If he starts getting impatient and moves on his own…"

"You needn't worry about that. Time means nothing to him. The only thing that interests him is that Realian."

"Are you really…going to use the Song of Nephilim?"

"Pellegri. Have you ever heard it? That song…draws everything unto madness…" Margulis said.

"Commander." One of the U-TIC soldiers said.

"What is it?" Margulis asked.

"We've managed to locate the valuable object that was stolen from us when the Kukai Foundation boarded the battleship that had encountered them."

"Well done. Bring up the location of where it's at."

A screen popped up showing the Kukai Foundation as the screen zoomed in to show a window of a skyscraper. The screen zoomed in some more to show a person behind the window. Margulis smirked when he saw this.

"We've finally found you…" He said. "…Project Eden."

* * *

ATE: Now that we're at the end, this is where I say what everyone else says. Please Review. Reviews make the world go round :)


	11. Chapter 10

ATE: Again I apologize for taking so long. So to make up for it I've uploaded this chap. I'm warning you right now that this one is gonna be very long. This chap is 28 microsoft document pages long and that plenty for you all the read while I have time to write the next chap.

Warning: There is some added dialouge from not just the OC, but from others as well. Consider yourselves warned.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. It rightfully belongs to Namco, who gave us games like Pac-Man!

* * *

Chapter 10

Inside the Elsa Shion and Allen were working on KOS-MOS. As they worked Shion couldn't help but think about something that was troubling her.

"Miltia…" She muttered. "I thought I'd come back under these situations…"

Allen seemed to notice that something was bothering Shion and felt concerned.

"Chief? Is something wrong?" Allen asked.

"Huh?" She seemed to be confused, but quickly understood what he was asking her. "Ah…oh, no. It's nothing."

Shion activated the wall console, trying to ignore what had happened between them.

"How's that, KOS-MOS?"

"Fine. There are no problems. Please continue." KOS-MOS said in her usual monotone voice.

Shion continued to activate the wall console. As she did this Allen couldn't help but feel worried.

"And once again, 'It's nothing'…"

-------------------------------------------------------

On the bridge of the Durandal, Mary stood next to were Shelley was sitting, while her sister saw that they were almost to their destination.

"We will soon be entering the Miltian star system." Shelley said. "We will be entering orbit at 1400 hours local time. Second Miltia Spaceport flight control…Transmitting flight plan, requesting permission to dock."

-------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, MOMO was walking by herself through a hallway.

"Hey, MOMO!"

MOMO stopped and turned around to see Jr. walking over to her.

"Yes? What is it?" MOMO asked as she turned around fully to look at Jr.

"We'll be going our separate ways once we get to Second Miltia, right?" He asked.

"Yes…"

"I don't know if Realians believe in carrying charms or not, but…" Jr. took something out of his pocket. "Here, take this. It's for luck."

In Jr.'s hand was a bullet. MOMO came closer and looked at the bullet in amazement.

"It's so pretty! What is it?" She asked.

"It's a bullet from a looong time ago. Look, it's got a good luck phrase on it: 'Sayonara, baby!'"

"Thank you!" MOMO looked up. "I'll keep it safe!"

"Ah, wait, hold on a sec." Jr. took out a chain and with the bullet, he emitted a light to make them form into a bracelet with a good luck charm bullet. "There we go. Try it on."

Jr. gave the bracelet to MOMO. She took the bracelet and put it around her wrist.

"Wow! You can do things like that, too? That's wonderful!"

"It kinda tires me out a bit, though." And indeed he sounded somewhat exhausted.

------------------------------------------------

I was still sitting on the bench in the Park Area when the Durandal suddenly shook violently and the lights blacked out for a moment before they turned back on.

"What's going on?" I asked myself, confused at what was happening.

I started to make my way to the Bridge, running in order to get there faster. What could have caused the Durandal to shake and the lights to turn off? There were more thoughts like these running through my head as I raced to the Bridge.

I soon got to the Bridge by taking the elevator to see everyone looking at a screen that had a man in a uniform talking, while Jr., Mary and Shelley stood at the controls. I listened as well.

"In accordance with Federation law, we hereby place the Kukai Foundation under arrest for the suspicion of violating Article 798, Chapter 37: Collection and Concealment of Defense Information, and Article 2153, Chapter 105, Acts of Aggression against Federation Vessels, and hereby revoke all rights previous granted. Shut down your engines and relinquish your weapons…"

"'Acts of Aggression against Federation Vessels'?!" Jr. cried out.

Wait we were under arrest?! What did the Kukai Foundation do to get arrested? What did Jr. do to get himself arrested?

"Furthermore, should the Miltian government allow the Kukai Foundation to dock the Durandal, we will issue a state of emergency notice under Article 2384, Chapter 115, Part 18…" The man continued.

"W-what in the world is going on?" I heard Allen ask.

"It looks like they think the Durandal conspired with the Miltian government in an attack on the Federation fleet." chaos replied.

"Huh? What Federation fleet?" Shion asked.

"Hey! Check out the network news on the sub-monitor. You're not gonna believe this!" Mary said.

I started to walk over to where Jr. was as a monitor showed the Durandal attacking another ship! A woman's voice could be heard.

"On the morning of the 21st, it appears that the 177th Marine Division flagship Woglinde, of the Galaxy Federation's Tessodora division, came under attack by a heavily armed ship belonging to the Kukai Foundation."

"_What the?! Jr. attacked Federation ships?!_" I thought horrified.

"Jr.! You attack Federation ships?!" I asked.

Jr.'s head shot up to look at me with wide eyes.

"Of course I didn't!" He protested. "I would never do that!"

"The Woglinde?!" Shion cried. "What?! I thought the Gnosis attack had been reported already…?!"

The woman's voice continued. "The company has been identified as operating in conjunction with the Second Miltian government. And considerations for the possibility of treason have forced the Federation Parliament to dispatch a fleet…"

"They did a good job doctoring that video." chaos stated. "But how did they synchronize the battle coordinates as well?"

"Damn!" I watched as Jr. slammed his hands on the control board, but didn't hit any buttons. "That's from when we fought the U-TIC Organization! Those bastards were recording it!"

"I see." Gaignun said. "That would explain how the absolute coordinates match. I guess that's their indisputable proof. Even I'm starting to think that we did it. And I don't blame Ayame for thinking that it was true."

"Considering the situation, you don't sound very worried." Ziggy said.

"In any event, this is confirmation that the remnants of the U-TIC Organization have infiltrated both the Federation government and the military." Shelley said.

"Which means…their next target is…" Jr. started.

"This is such a blatant lie, it's ludicrous." Shion protested. "As survivor's if we testify…"

"They'll just claim that you survived because you were in on the conspiracy." Gaignun stated.

"This is insane… Do you think this is why Headquarters hasn't communicated with us…?!" Allen asked.

I continued to watch the monitor as it showed the Durandal destroying a ship. If this footage was a fake then it was very convincing.

Just then I heard the elevator coming up and I turned around to see a woman in a white uniform step off the elevator with soldiers with her.

"I am Captain Lapis Roman of the Galaxy Federation's Special Ops Command Headquarters, intelligence Bureau." She said. "I hereby place this ship under custody of the Galaxy Federation."

The soldiers took their guns out and made everyone place their hand up to their heads. I watched as one of them pushed Jr. with his gun to make him walk and Ziggy was having his hands handcuffed behind his back.

I was soon lightly jabbed by a gun and I looked forward to see a soldier pointing his gun at me. I immediately followed everyone's example and put my hand up in the air.

"Move it!" He told me. I did what he told me to do.

Lapis Roman then started to talk to Shion and Allen. "I understand you're from the Woglinde. I'll take you in as witnesses. All Vector property will be temporarily confiscated as evidence."

"KOS-MOS…" Shion whispered.

"Here's the 100-Series Realian under warrant!"

My head shot in the direction of the voice and I saw a soldier dragging MOMO by her right arm to make her move with him.

"Hey! Don't hurt her!" Jr. yelled as he managed to free himself from the soldier that was holding him. A soldier struck Jr. with the butt of his gun, causing him to fall to the floor as another soldier aimed his gun at his head to stop him.

"Jr.!" I cried.

"Quiet!" The soldier that was holding me captive said as he aimed his gun at me in a threatening way.

"Detain them in a single room, and watch them carefully." Lapis said to one of her soldiers.

"All of them?" He asked.

"Splitting them up will only serve to underman our guardposts. Investigate as much of the ship as possible before we rendezvous with the others."

"Yes, Ma'am."

The soldiers started to lead us to custody. I was able to hear Captain Lapis Roman talking to Gaignun

"Gaignun Kukai, you are hereby under arrest for suspicion of treason against the Galaxy Federation. Come with me."

"As you wish." Gaignun said.

------------------------------------------------------

Soon afterwards we were all placed under house arrest in a single room and with our weapons confiscated. I sat with Shion and MOMO at a table, along with Jr. Ziggy and chaos stood, and Allen sat on the couch.

"It's all orchestrated too well…" Ziggy said.

"Huh?" Shion said, slightly confused.

Everyone looked over at Ziggy wondering what he was talking about. I certainly didn't have a clue as to what was going on, but I assumed that that all this must had happened while I was still asleep.

"The fleet deployment came too quickly. They must have been prepared to ensure that MOMO would return to them regardless of what happened… Or perhaps ensnaring Second Miltia was part of their plan from the very beginning."

"As a neutral territory, Second Miltia was invested with a whole bunch of rights and legal privileges after the Miltian Conflict." Jr. stated. "There are a whole lot of folks who still have problems with that, even outside of the U-TIC Organization."

"So there are people out there that don't like the idea that…Second Miltia…has all these privileges?" I asked, seeing if I understood what I heard.

"Right."

"The asteroid where MOMO was imprisoned…" Ziggy wondered. "I wondered where the information about that place came from… Now it seems like it was all part of the plan from the very beginning."

"Do you mean…from when Mommy sent you to rescue me?" MOMO asked.

"You don't think there are U-TIC members within the Subcommittee itself…?" chaos asked curiously.

"It's not inconceivable." Allen stated. "Perhaps it was the very person who arranged for MOMO's rescue, Dr. Juli Mizrahi herself…"

"No! Mommy would never do something like that!" MOMO protested.

"Allen!" Shion yelled.

I felt sorry for both MOMO and Allen right now, but I wondered who should I feel more sorry for?

"I…uh…sorry…"

-----------------------------------------------------

Gaignun and Captain Lapis Roman were walking in the corridor of the Residential Area. She soon stopped and turned around, handing Gaignun a black box.

"Open it." She ordered.

Gaignun opened the black box to found a cell phone inside. It rang and on instinct he answered it, knowing who was calling.

"Helmer?"

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Gaignun. I'm in a somewhat difficult position myself at the moment, but I'm doing what I can with the Federation Parliament." Helmer said. "Now, the woman beside you is Captain Lapis Roman. Several years ago, I sent her to infiltrate the military in order to keep tabs on the U-TIC members within it. She is one of my most trusted subordinates."

"Always prepared, aren't you?" Gaignun chuckled.

"Caution is something that comes naturally with age. Captain Roman will investigate the Durandal's records before someone modifies them. Please assist her."

"Understood. I'll give her the Durandal's master key."

On the other line a woman approached Helmer during his call.

"Sir!" She said. "There's an EPR com from the CEO of Vector…"

Helmer looked to the woman.

"Vector?" He asked. "All right. I'll take it." He turned back to his conversation with Gaignun. "If you'll excuse me. I'll let you know if there are any developments."

"Busy as always…" Gaignun said.

"Not half as much as you."

Helmer hung up the phone. A communication monitor came up to show Wilhelm.

"It's good to see you again, Representative Helmer." Wilhelm said.

"Likewise, Mr. Wilhelm." Helmer said. "We haven't spoken since you resigned as Executive Committee Director."

"I'm well aware of the situation. Allow me to make a recommendation to the Parliament as well."

"Mr. Wilhelm, you're too kind."

"Actually, my concerns have even prompted me to dispatch the Dämmerung, which is currently underway to the Miltian system."

"Your concerns?" He asked.

"This incident…surely you've realized by now that…?"

"There's no question of the U-TIC Organization's involvement in it."

"Exactly. Given that, it can only mean they're after one thing." Wilhelm said. "The Original Zohar in stasis on Miltia, and…"

"U-DO…" Helmer finished. "We can't allow that to be awakened again."

"I believe our firm's KOS-MOS and its related staff are currently in your care…"

"I apologize, Mr. Wilhelm. I'm afraid the link between the Kukai Foundation and the Second Miltian government is…"

"Ah, of course. Then please pass a message on to Gaignun for me. Surely that would be acceptable?"

"That much, I can do."

"Tell him that we'll lend him KOS-MOS for a while, and he can use her as he sees fit. We still have time before the Zohar Project commences, and in the worst-case scenario, she'll definitely be of use." Wilhelm said. "We'll have the Second R&D Division and the Tactical Sim Lab provide support."

"Are you sure? Isn't that top secret?"

"It's a calculated risk. From our point of view, the more real-world data we get, the better."

"All right. I'll convey your message to Master Gaignun."

"Thank you. Good day, then."

Wilhelm broke contact with Helmer. He got up from his seat, looking out the window.

"U-DO…"

------------------------------------------------------

We continued to wait in the room where we were locked in. Everyone except myself, Shion, and MOMO were standing. Soon I heard the door open and looked up to see Captain Lapis Roman walk into the room with a soldier following behind her.

"The preliminary inquiry shall now begin." She said.

Captain Lapis Roman walked over to where Shion, MOMO, and I were sitting and took a seat near the table.

"I am an agent working for Representative Helmer of the Second Miltian Parliament."

Shion gasped when she saw one of Captain Lapis Roman's soldiers.

"He's also with us. We can go into detail later, but for now I'll just debrief you on the current situation." She said. "You are presently under the custody of the Federation government and the military. I'll be honest with you. The way things are now, within a few hours, she'll be turned over to anti-Miltian forces, specifically the U-TIC Organization. Soon after, the Second Miltian government will be stripped of all its authority. At this moment, Representative Helmer is working with the leaders of the Miltian Parliament to buy us additional time. However, our opponents' skillful manipulation requires us to find concrete proof of your innocence."

"_So we were framed._" I thought.

"But…how?" Shion asked.

"That's the question. We need something that would give conclusive evidence of your innocence."

"Conclusive…evidence…" She said. "What about the Woglinde's black box?"

"We've already recovered that." Lapis Roman stated. "Unfortunately, sometime after the final gate-out, it was modified to be exactly the same as the video recording, down to the time axis."

"Not to mention, I shot up the database on that U-TIC battleship…" Jr. said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"What about the Durandal's database?" chaos asked. "A record of the battle against the U-TIC should still be there. Can't we use that to prove our innocence?"

"Is that a standard database?" Lapis asked, looking over at chaos.

"Yeah." Jr. answered.

At this Lapis turned her head and looked at the table.

"Is that a problem?"

"Yes…" She said. "Standard databases are too easily modified. I'm not certain how reliable they would be as evidence. If we had something that even the owner couldn't change, say, a system with a AAA class encryption, then maybe…"

"Wha…? Triple A?!" Jr. cried. "You don't find systems with that kind of protection just lying around! For something like that, you'd need the Federation government's motherframe, or the U.M.N. operating system!"

"We…" Shion said.

"What?"

"We have one!" Shion stood up.

"…Oh! KOS-MOS!" Allen realized what Shion was saying.

"KOS-MOS?!" Jr. asked, coming over to where we were.

"Yes. KOS-MOS' database has a recording of the battle against the Gnosis onboard the Woglinde. If we enter that as evidence…"

"Yeah, but in order to copy the record, we need the keys from both the Federation government and Headquarters." Allen said.

"By diving into the Encephalon and experiencing the record ourselves, we can make a copy through the Connection Gear." Shion said.

"B…But…that's impossible without the dive equipment."

"How about the Service Module's Simple Dive Unit?" She suggested.

"You've got to be kidding! Besides, that's a violation of protocol!" He protested.

"We don't have any other choice, do we? Oh, I'm so sick and tired of protocol…"

"But…" Jr. started.

"The real question is, how do we get to KOS-MOS?"

I watched as Lapis Roman got out of her seat and took a small gray object in her hand and pointed it at Ziggy. She pressed a button and I soon heard a sound and the handcuffs on Ziggy's hands fell off. She then tossed the device to Shion.

"That'll open any locked doors you come across." She said. She walked over to Ziggy. "I'll just saw that we were careless. But to make it look legitimate, you'll need to knock me out."

"You sure?" Ziggy asked.

"Otherwise no one would believe it, right?"

Ziggy looked at everyone in the room.

"You have a point." He stated. Ziggy stepped forward until he was in front of Lapis.

"Go easy on me, okay…?" She said.

I saw that MOMO was scared and leaned her face on Shion while the woman comforted her. I watched Ziggy punch Captain Lapis Roman and she fell to the floor knocked out. Ziggy approached the soldier near the door.

"Forgive me." He said.

Ziggy punched and knocked him out as well. We started walking to the door to leave.

"Thanks! You're pretty cool." Jr. said as he passed by Lapis' unconscious form.

We opened the door to find 2 guards outside. When they saw that the door was opened, but no Captain Lapis Roman, they attacked us.

"Leave this to me." chaos said.

With that chaos fought with the guards and soon they were lying on the floor unconscious.

"You really made that look easy." I said.

"It really isn't that hard." chaos smiled sheepishly.

As we made out way out we made sure that we didn't get seen by any more soldiers. We soon came to a room (which we unlocked using that remote thing that Lapis gave us) and found out weapons inside.

I had just finished strapping my holster that held the Shiruba (AN: I'm shortening it to 'Shiruba' since 'Towa No Shiruba' takes too long to write out) around my waist when everyone started to leave the room. I quickly followed them out the door.

We started to make our way to the Dock, where the Elsa was. We couldn't go through the front door, so we had to take the cargo elevator to get inside.

---------------------------------------------------------

"There's no time to lose. We have to hurry to the maintenance lab." Shion said when we were inside.

We followed Shion to the maintenance room where we found KOS-MOS sleeping in a pod. As I looked upon the sleeping android, I couldn't help but think of when I woke up to find myself laying in the capsule I had been asleep in for 4000 years.

I watched as Shion picked up a pair of red scope…goggles…thing. She walked over to the chair and sat down on it.

"Here we go." She said, putting the scope over her eyes. "Allen, handle backup for me, all right?"

"…Roger. Opening Interconnection." Allen said, bringing up a transparent paper-like screen in his hand to look at and started typing on it. "Ahh…get a grip." He muttered to himself. "Don't worry. I'll back you up no matter what happens."

Shion placed the scope over her eyes.

"Thanks." She looked to KOS-MOS. "Ready, KOS-MOS?"

Suddenly something strange was happening to the room. It looked like it was stretching and being sucked into something.

"What the…?" I heard Jr. say.

"Is this normal?!" I asked.

-----------------------------------------------

(_With Shion's Group – Ayame's POV_)

I woke up to find myself lying on cold stony ground. I got up and found that I was in the playground of a park and it was sunset. I found Shion looking at a swing set, where a little girl with dark hair and wearing a blue dress sat swinging gently on the seat.

I could hear the little girl humming a song that sounded familiar. I think I've heard that song before, but from where?

The little girl then looked up and I realized that she was Shion, except…younger. Younger Shion got off the swing.

"Daddy!" She said as she ran passed older Shion.

"Daddy…?" Older Shion said.

Older Shion turned around and saw younger Shion approaching a older man with dark hair, which I suspected was her father.

"All right, Shion…let's go home." He said as he kneeled down.

"We're not… …going to see Mom?" Little Shion asked.

"No…not today… We'll visit her tomorrow, okay?"

"…Okay." Younger Shion sounded disappointed.

Younger Shion and her father started to walk away.

"Wait…" Older Shion said. I watched as she extended her arm out. "Don't go…"

"You cannot go…"

Shion and I started to look around when we saw a little girl with red hair wearing a white dress and a necklace with a cross sitting on the slide. I immediately recognized her as the girl from the dream I had.

"That's right. This was the last day you spent together with your father." She said. "I've been waiting a long time for you…for both of you…"

The girl got up and started to ruffle the hem of her dress.

"We have much to talk about."

--------------------------------------------------

(_With Jr.'s Group – Jr.'s POV_)

I finally came to, finding myself in a dark ruined city as I held my aching head. I suddenly heard the sound of people marching and saw some U.R.T.V. marching down the road with rifles. It was then that

"No way… It can't be…"

"Jr.?" MOMO asked.

"No doubt about it. They're U.R.T.V."

"…I see. It would appear that this is more than just a hallucination." Ziggy said. "What is this place? Do you recognize it?"

I said nothing. I was too deep in thought.

"Jr.…"

"What?!!" I snapped angrily

I heard MOMO panic after hearing me shouting. I felt somewhat guilty now.

"I'm asking you if you recognize this place." He repeated calmly.

"Yeah, I do. If this isn't an illusion, and my memory's correct, this is…Miltia. From fourteen years ago."

I started to run after the U.R.T.V., leaving MOMO and Ziggy behind.

"Where are you going?" I heard him say but I didn't answer.

"I wonder what's troubling him?" MOMO asked. "It looks as though he's trying to chase after those people…"

"I'm sure he has his reasons. Nonetheless, we don't know what's going on and we can't let him go off alone."

----------------------------------------------------

(_With Shion's Group – Ayame's POV_)

Shion and I stood in front of the little girl. I was confused about what the little girl meant.

"You've been waiting…? For us…?" Shion asked.

It was then that Allen and chaos appeared when we looked behind us.

"chaos…Allen…?"

"Chief…? Where are we?" Allen asked.

I watched as the little girl placed her hand on Shion's. This caused the woman to look down at the girl.

"Who are you?" Shion asked.

"I am…Nephilim." She said. "That's what I have been called. Ever since I existed in this form…"

--------------------------------------------------------

(_With Jr.'s Group – Jr.'s POV_)

I continued running after the U.R.T.V. I soon stopped to catch my breath as MOMO and Ziggy finally caught up with me.

"Jr." Ziggy said. "When we tell you to wait for us, you do so. Understood?"

I looked up at Ziggy, raising an eyebrow.

"What? Are you trying to be my dad now?" I asked. "Thanks, but I already have one."

We soon started to continue moving through the area. In the next area I saw U.R.T.V. shooting at civilians as they tried to run away. My eyes widened as I stared at the horrific sight.

"Every single one of them's infected…" I said.

Just then I saw one of the U.R.T.V. being shot down and saw a version of them that had dark hair and green eyes that held a rifle.

"Rubedo! Where are you?! Rubedo!" He yelled.

"_Gaignun_…?!"

I was now standing in a factory where I saw Gaignun walking with injuries, using his rifle as a crutch. A white haired U.R.T.V. appeared and attacked him and Gaignun fell to the level I was on. I realized that the white haired U.R.T.V. was Albedo. Albedo started to fly and landed in front of Gaignun as he literally radiated U-DO waves.

"Gaignun!!" I yelled as I tried to run over to him.

But then I remembered that we were still in the Encephalon dive and came to my senses. MOMO and Ziggy were standing next to me.

"Are you all right?" MOMO asked.

"I-I'm fine…"

"Jr.?"

"I said I'm fine!!" I shouted.

MOMO panicked again and again I felt guilty.

"S…Sorry… I didn't mean to…" I started. I looked upon the carnage that lay in front of me. "Damn it…what the hell is this? What's going on here?"

We continued to move on through the area.

"_At least Ayame wasn't here to see this. I didn't want her to find out the true…at least…not like this…_" I thought, somewhat relieved.

-----------------------------------------------------

(_With Shion's Group – Ayame's POV_)

I sat on the slide where Nephilim had sat when we found her. Shion sat on the swing with Nephilim, as chaos leaned against the swing set railing and Allen sat on the obelisk that had a sign sticking out in the middle.

"So you're saying this really is Miltia?" Shion asked.

"Yes." Nephilim said. "A world of unbroken memories slumber at the depths of your consciousness… KOS-MOS has sensed this and recreated it. This world…it is also KOS- MOS' memory as well."

"KOS-MOS' memory…? No, that's not…"

"Memories do not belong solely to one person. And they are not fixed to just one location."

"No, I mean… It's…the original KOS-MOS was…" Shion stopped.

"…Destroyed, during that incident, two years ago…" Nephilim finished. "And you lost someone dear to you as well… Joyful memories form only one half of a whole. Only when they are combined together with the other half, can your consciousness truly take form. You must…no… All of you must accept the entirety of your memories."

"Accept…our memories…" Shion said.

"You must…return to Miltia once again."

Shion got out of the swing so quickly that I flinched.

"Please…tell me. Why must I go to Miltia?" Shion asked.

It was quiet. Shion turned around to look at the exit.

"Only KOS-MOS knows the answer to that question… She is waiting for you there."

"KOS-MOS is…out there…?"

Shion started to walk away.

"Hey…wait up! Chief!" Allen said.

Allen and I followed after Shion.

----------------------------------------------------

chaos was still with Nephilim at the swing set.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Nephilim asked. "There is no turning back."

"I know…but… Shion…is vital to her." chaos said.

"And to you as well? What will you do?"

chaos was quiet.

"Could you bring Ayame back?" Nephilim asked.

"Why?" He looked to the little girl on the swing.

"I want to talk to her alone."

chaos went after the others.

-----------------------------------------------

(_Ayame's POV_)

"Ayame!"

I turned around to see chaos running over to us.

"What is it chaos?" I asked.

"Nephilim wanted to speak with you alone." He said. "She's still at the swing set."

"Thanks, chaos." I smiled.

I made my way back over to the swing set where Nephilim was indeed waiting for me as she sat on the swing. I took a seat on the swing that Shion had sat in earlier.

"You wanted to talk to me?" I asked.

"Yes." She said, nodding. "There are some things I want to explain to you."

"Like what?"

"You have a connection with Shion and the others now. And now you must help them on this journey."

"What do you mean? How am I involved in this?"

"You, Ayame, the one from a time long since past and forgotten. Your journey began when you were first seal inside the capsule you had been asleep in over 4000 years ago." She explained. "And your connection to Shion and the others began when you met them. You have known who they were before your sleep, but have forgotten."

"I don't understand. You said that my journey started 4000 years ago when I was placed in the capsule. I don't remember anything from before I woke up." I was confused, I didn't understand.

"Something happened to you that made you forget everything after you were sealed up. But surely you can recall the flashbacks you've seen. They are your memories of that time 4000 year ago, and slowly you are starting to remember."

"Do you know what happened to me before I was placed in the capsule? Do you know who I really am?" I asked, somewhat hopeful.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you. That is something you need to discover on your own." She said. "But know this. When you remember your true name, you'll also remember everything."

I stood up from the swing.

"You must continue to travel with them." She said. "It is the path that has been laid before you that you must walk."

"Thank you…Nephilim."

I started to run back over to where Shion, Allen, and chaos were waiting and we continued to walk.

"What was that about Ayame?" Shion asked.

"Nothing much. Stuff you already know." I said.

We continued to make our way through the city.

----------------------------------------------------

(_With Jr.'s Group – Jr.'s POV_)

We continued to walk through the area, when I suddenly stopped seeing a sight I've wanted to forget ever since fourteen years ago.

"Man… You've gotta be kidding…" I said.

"What's wrong?" MOMO asked. "Oh…"

No doubt MOMO and Ziggy saw the large skyscraper that stood towering over us.

"The U-TIC Organization's central tower…Labyrinthos." I explained.

"Labyrinthos…?"

"Hallelujah!" I heard a voice resound from the top of Labyrinthos. "'And the sea gave up the dead which were in it……and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them……and they were judged every man according to their works!'"

"That voice…that's…" MOMO said. "That's Daddy…! Daddy!!"

"What?!" Ziggy asked.

I watched as Ziggy grabbed MOMO's arm before she could get away, struggling to get out of his grip.

"MOMO! Stop! Where are you going?!"

"Let me go! Daddy… Daddy's calling for me!"

"'Daddy'?!" He asked surprised. "Is that really him…?!"

I nodded. "That's Joachim Mizrahi…without a doubt."

"So that's…Joachim Mizrahi..."

"'And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life……was cast into the lake of fire! Rejoice, all ya! The time for feasting has come!'"

I watched as an explosion erupted from the top of the skyscraper and the burning form of Joachim Mizrahi fell from the top.

"Noooooooooooo!!" MOMO cried in horror.

MOMO ran and tried to catch Joachim Mizrahi, but he fell through her and disappeared.

"Da…ddy… Daddyyyy!!"

Ziggy and I started to make our way over to MOMO, who was now shaking.

"MOMO…" I muttered sadly.

"All this before me… Is this really Miltia form fourteen years ago…?" Ziggy asked.

Suddenly, the ground shook and the area started to disappear. We started to fall through the abyss of iridescent colors when a bright light blinded us.

When the light faded we found ourselves in what appeared to be a forest. I heard the sound of someone crying and saw that it was coming from MOMO. I went over to her.

"Jr.…"

I placed my hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort MOMO.

--------------------------------------------------------

(_Ayame's POV_)

We soon appeared in a forest area and stopped. Ahead I saw what looked like a stone building.

"Is that…a church…?" Shion asked.

Suddenly we saw that the others were here as well.

"Jr.?! How did you all get here…?"

"Beats me." He said. They started to come over to where we were. "As soon as you dived, everything went all hazy, and the next thing I knew, we were here. After that, there were all sorts of visions…"

"Did we all get pulled into the Chief's Encephalon dive?" Allen asked.

"That's impossible. None of you were connected."

"If KOS-MOS' oscillation pulse caused a counter-current to flow through the Dive Unit, it's not inconceivable. The ones we use are non-contact types, after all."

"Even if that were the case, the Simple Dive Unit couldn't handle that great a load. There would have to be some other, external force…"

Shion went quiet.

"Regardless of how we got here, this is KOS-MOS' mainframe." chaos said. "Our memories found a common resonance within her, and resulted in the creation of this world… That's what it feels like to me."

"But, I don't remember ever being in a place like this." Allen said.

"I second that." I said.

"I wonder if perhaps memories – in other words, events that occurred in the past – become stronger, more selective, and gain a higher priority when they resonate with others that share identical axes in time and space." chaos explained. "If you think about it in those terms, it isn't quite so odd that both my memories and those of Allen and Ayame are not reflected here."

"So, what you're saying is, this world is constantly changing based on the experiences people share in time and space?" Ziggy asked.

chaos nodded.

"A world made up of our past, as glimpsed through the mind of KOS-MOS…" Jr. said.

"So…it's all an illusion…?" MOMO asked.

"There's no difference between illusion and reality to the person experiencing it." Shion said sadly "This is…no illusion…"

"Chief…" Allen muttered.

Shion was quiet.

"So that's what she meant…" She muttered.

We started to make our way to the church and entered through the double doors. When we were inside I saw a woman with white hair kneeling in front of an alter praying.

"Someone's here. Those clothes…is she a Realian?" Allen asked.

"Yes… She definitely seems to be a Realian, but…I also sense something different…" MOMO said.

The woman (who was actually a Realian) stood up to face us, her yellow eyes gazing at us.

"Is this based on one of our memories, too, Chief? …Chief?"

"Are you…a Realian?" Ziggy asked.

"Yes. My name is Febronia." She said. "I came to take care of this church because I longed for a place where Realians could find peace."

"Febronia…" Shion whispered.

"Do you know her?" Jr. asked.

I watched as Shion stared and suddenly shook her head as if to wake up. Febronia smiled.

"I…I know you… I…know…you…! But…no… I don't want to remember…" Shion placed her face in her hands. "It's…it's…"

There must have been something in Shion's past that happened to the Realian that she didn't want to remember.

"_Poor Shion…_" I thought.

"Follow me, Shion." Febronia said.

Febronia went over to the side of the door in the back of the church.

"The instant you open that door you will come face to face with yourselves." I heard Nephilim say. I looked over to the window where the little girl stood. "It will be an experience full of sorrow and pain…But it is, both to you and to us, a very, very important experience."

Shion started at the door for a while and then started to make her way over to it. The others and myself followed after her. When we opened the door I saw that we had entered a long dark hallway, lightning occasionally flashed.

"This…is inside of the Chief's soul?" Allen asked.

We started to slowly walk down the hallway and as we did lightning flashed again and I caught the sight of blood smeared on the wall. We soon approached on of the doors at the end.

"This is…" Shion started.

"The Acute Neurosis Treatment Facility." Nephilim finished. "A place you know well."

"The room where Mom was hospitalized…"

"Yes. A place where painful, sorrowful memories linger. I wonder… Can you face them…"

The door opened and inside the room were dead bodies littering the floor along with Shion's father slumped against the wall and a body on the bed covered by a blanket that had blood on it from being stabbed. I couldn't help but gasp at the grotesque sight and held my hands to my mouth.

Suddenly a bunch of humanoid-shaped monsters with blades for hands appeared and started stabbing each other's backs and seemed to join together as they formed something even more deformed.

I watched as Shion and Jr. started to panic as they stepped back slowly.

Everything started to change and I found myself in a hexagonal room with Jr. In front of us was the form of a little boy with white hair wearing a uniform laughing maniacally.

"Al…bedo…" Jr. muttered.

"_Wait! That's Albedo?!_" I thought.

"The Song…the song is…I… Mirror, mirror, on the wall…show me…define me!" Albedo said. "I am the infinite telomerase! I am not an anti-existence! I am the perfect chain!!!"

Albedo continued to laugh insanely and then we were back with the others and Jr. and Shion were still frightened.

"Chief! Jr.! What's wrong with you two?!" Allen cried. "Hey! Chief?! Wha… What is…"

I looked at whatever Allen was looking at and saw that the monsters combined into a bigger, much more dangerous one.

Everyone (with the exception of Shion and Jr.) started to attack the monster. I took the Shiruba out of my holsters and pressed the button on both of them so that they transformed into swords.

"_This is my first fight!_" I thought, realizing what I was doing.

I ran over to the monster and started to slash it with the Shiruba, but every time I slashed at it flesh the cut would instantly heal itself as if it didn't get attacked by me at all. I even tried stabbing it only to get the same result again and again.

I then used an Ether I learned from Shion earlier that would reveal the monster's weakness. I found out that the monster was called Tiamat. I finally found it's weakness, only to have my eyes widen when Tiamat used it's arm to strike me and sent me flying across the room and hit the wall, the impact knocking the air out of my lungs.

"I'm definitely going to feel that tomorrow." I muttered.

Slowly, I tried to breathe as I stood up. Not far from me were Shion and Jr., still in a daze of fright. I started to make my way over to them slowly.

"Shion, Jr.! Snap out of it!" I said when I finally came over to them. "None of our attacks are doing any damage to it. We need your help."

They still didn't seem to move or say anything. I resorted to trying to shake them both.

"Come on! You two are the only ones that can kill it." I looked to Shion. "Shion! Remember why we came here in the first place!"

It was then that they seemed to come to their senses. They shook their heads as if they were waking up and looked at me.

"You're right Ayame. We came here from KOS-MOS!"

"That's the spirit!"

Shion and Jr. soon joined in the fight and we were soon able to defeat Tiamat. When the fight was over Tiamat disappeared and then reddish-pink waves everywhere and suddenly a bright light appeared.

When the light faded, we ended up in a grassy place with a tree and a woman who looked like Febronia sat underneath the tree's shade as she watched two identical girls running around the tree laughing.

"I am sorry, Shion…" Febronia said. "I know it was hard for you… But…"

"There are…two of you…" Shion said.

"The woman sitting over there isn't me. It's just an image created for the girls. An illusion. This is their world… created solely for Cecily and Cathe. I am using KOS-MOS' Encephalon construction abilities to show it to all of you."

"But…they seem to be so happy…" Allen stated.

"Would you say that… …if you were to see this?"

The area turned into a graveyard version of the one we had just saw. The tree was dead without its leaves and Febronia was dead as the two girls (Cecily and Cathe) still ran around the tree. Allen's eyes widened.

"This is…just an illusion that traps them here… A binding spell created by mankind to control the Zohar." She said. "But, as far as they know, this world is reality. I want you…to release my sisters… Please, for the future of the Realians as well…"

"The future of the Realians…?" Shion asked.

"Not just for their future…but for the future of humans, non-humans, and all matter of living consciousness… Feb and I can only exist in this world of consciousness." Nephilim said. We turned around to face her. "We can only come into contact with the real world for a short time. That is why I called for all of you…so that the future may be changed."

"Change…the future?"

"Look."

The place changed from the graveyard to that of outer space. In front of us was a planet that was unknown to me.

"Miltia…" Shion muttered.

The illusion of KOS-MOS appeared flying through space.

"That's…KOS-MOS?!"

The planet Miltia fired a reddish-pink beam at KOS-MOS, but the android fired her blue beam and the two beams hit each other, causing the entire place to blow up in chain reaction.

"That stream of energy…is the consciousness known as U-DO." Nephilim said.

"What? U-DO…?!" Jr. cried.

"U-DO was the source of the space-time anomaly that engulfed Miltia 14 years ago. What you just saw was a vision of the future, where U-DO encounters KOS-MOS in the form in which she was meant to be. U-DO will awaken soon. He feeds upon the consciousness of those who intend to awaken him, as well as those who wish to seek him…"

"It's gonna wake up…soon…?"

"The future you just saw is but one of an infinite set of potential phenomena. But that does not mean that the future is already set. Even the smallest of waves can spread throughout the whole. Phenomena change with every moment, just like a drifting wave."

"Are you saying…that we're that wave?" Shion asked.

"Yet, before it all begins… I wanted you to…face your pasts. But… I see you are not ready yet. I am sorry." She said sadly.

"But…why us?"

"Shion…you were once touched by a Gnosis. Despite that, you remain unchanged, the same as before. That is why…"

"That's why…?"

"There will be a time when I can discuss why. If you go back to Miltia… The place where it all began… Then you will see…"

Nephilim and Febronia disappeared.

"Wait!"

A door appeared out of nowhere and we went through it. After going through it, we appeared in what looked like a cave and saw KOS-MOS tired to a crossed shaped stone by wires. Shion went over to the android and place her hand on the side of her face.

"KOS-MOS…" Shion said. "So, this is your…"

KOS-MOS started to glow brighter.

"Ye shall be as gods…"

"Disarming subconscious domain protection." KOS-MOS said.

The entire area started to become bright and then faded to show that we were back on the Elsa.

The pod opened to reveal KOS-MOS. She woke up and got up.

"Morning…KOS-MOS…" Shion said.

"Good morning, Shion." KOS-MOS replied.

KOS-MOS started to look around at all of us.

"Well, looks like we all managed to make it back." chaos said.

"Chief!"

Allen ran up to Shion and hugged her.

"…I'm so relieved you're okay!" Allen said.

"A…Allen…?"

We entered the Bridge of the Durandal. Shion went up to Captain Lapis Roman.

"I present to you the memory bank data from the Anti-Gnosis Humanoid Weapon System KP-X, KOS-MOS." Shion stated. "Protection Level AAA, with no possibility of alteration."

Captain Lapis Roman took the memory bank data.

"Memory bank data accepted." She said. "Please remain within the Miltian star system until you're cleared of all charges."

A little while later everyone was on the bridge talking to each other. Thankfully, Mary and Shelley were with us. To be honest I missed them.

"Phew, well I am sure glad that escapade's over and done with!" Mary said as she held her hand behind her head.

"You don't look very happy. Did something happen?" Shelley asked Jr.

"Huh? Yeah. You could say that… I still can't believe it…" Jr. stated.

"We've got another friend of yours to release, too."

We turned around and saw Gaignun with Lapis.

"Oh…! Master Gaignun!" Shelley said.

"Master Gaignun…!!" Mary repeated.

Both Mary and Shelley ran over to Gaignun and hugged him.

"_Gaignun is such the ladies-man!_" I thought, laughing mentally.

Gaignun looked up at Jr.

"Hey." Jr. greeted, his arms crossed.

"You've done well…" The older man said, walking over to him with Mary and Shelley on each arm. This only gave more evidence that Gaignun was indeed a ladies-man.

"Ahh, no big deal… But…it sure brought back a lot of bad memories…" Jr. then turned to Shion. "Hey, Shion… That girl… She called herself Nephilim, right?"

"Uh…yeah." Shion replied.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes, but…"

"Hmm…"

"What's…wrong…?" Shion asked.

"Well… If that girl is somehow connected to what I'm thinking of… Then things are gonna get real busy, real soon…"

* * *

ATE: If you managed to make it to the end of the chap, then kudos. Please Review :)


	12. Chapter 11

ATE: I was able to write this chap from scratch this morning and upload it too. I just got the idea for this chap last night and was able to go from there. Just so everyone knows, this chap is a filler.

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. Only the OC.

* * *

Chapter 11

_I was walking through a dark place and found a door. I opened the door and found that I was in the same dark room I had been in that had Realians littering the floor dead. I started to shake._

"_No…!" I thought. "Not this place again!"_

"_Back again I see. Did you really miss me?"_

_I looked up and saw Albedo sitting on his chair. He got up and started to walk over to me, while I tried to put as much distance between us. I was eventually backed into a wall and started to become fearful since I had nowhere to run._

"_What do you want from me?" I asked._

"_Hmm…let's see…" Albedo said, looking as if he were really giving the idea some thought. "There are so many things I want from you that the list appears to be an endless one."_

_I gulped at what he would say._

"_But why spoil the surprise, mon iris, when I'll be coming for you and ma pêche? I think it would be more interesting that way. Besides, it'll be worth the wait just to see your expression when you find out."_

"_How is it…that you know me?"_

"_Let's just say, we go way back. 14 years to be exact."_

_I knew him from 14 years ago? I wasn't even awake at that time!_

"_Let me out of here!" I thought. "Let me out of this nightmare!"_

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I shot out of my bed, but instantly regretted it when I felt my back sting from where I hit the wall when I was fight Tiamat in the Encephalon. I hissed in pain as the pain seemed to travel throughout my body.

"_I knew I was going to feel it today. Man, does it sting!_" I thought.

I got out of bed carefully and made my way to the bathroom to see how bad my back looked. I lifted the back of my white sleeveless shirt and saw that there was a big bruise that covered almost all of my back.

"_It looks just as bad as it feels._"

I pulled my shirt down and went back into my room. I put my sky blue coat on and left the room, deciding to go to the Park Area to relax. I rode the subway to the Park Area and soon got off when it arrived.

Taking the elevator up I went inside the park and went over to the bench I usually sit at and took a seat. I was careful when leaning against the back of the bench since my back was still stinging.

I started to think of the nightmare I had just woken up from. I never thought I would have that nightmare again, especially when it involved Albedo. I could tell there was something wrong with him, but I didn't know what. Nephilim had told me that I had known everyone before I was seal in the capsule 4000 years ago, but have forgotten and have now actually met them. Was it the same for Albedo?

I suddenly started to have a flashback.

_I was sitting at a table and in front of me was a white cake with lit candles that said 'Happy Birthday…' I couldn't make out the name since it was blurry. _

_Occupying the other seats where an older man and woman, along with the girl I saw from the flashback I had about Instant Ramen, and the other people I had seen in the flashback of the beach._

"_Make a wish, ______." The girl said._

"_Katie, I'm turning 16. Don't you think I'm a little too old for that?" I asked._

"_You're never too old for wishes." Katie said._

_I shook my head._

"_Aww, what the heck!" _

_I closed my eyes thinking for a bit, but I didn't know what I was thinking. I opened my eyes and leaned closer to the cake, blowing out the candles on the cake. I heard the sound of cheers and party blowers from random people. I smiled, only to have the loud sound of a party blower right next to my ear. I covered my ear trying to block out the sound. I turned my head and saw that it was Matt._

"_That hurt, Matt!" I cried._

"_I was only having a little bit of fun!"_

_The older man and woman got out from the table, the latter holding a box that was wrapped in light green wrapping paper out to me._

"_Happy birthday, sweetie." She said._

_I took the box and peeled the wrapping paper off to reveal a white box with a lid. I took the lid off and was surprised at what I saw. It was the necklace that I always wore that laid in the box, gleaming in the light of the room._

"_It's pretty!" I said. "Thank you."_

The flashback ended and I found myself still sitting on the bench. I picked up the necklace around my neck and looked at it.

"_Were the man and woman that gave me this necklace…my parents?_" I thought.

I got up from the bench and left the Park Area, deciding to go back to my room for a bit. I got back on the subway and took it to the Residential Area of the Durandal. I soon got off and started to make my way to my room when I heard the sound of running footsteps coming from behind me.

"Ayame!"

I stopped, turning around to see Jr. running over to me and finally stopped when he was in front of me.

"I finally found you." He said.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"No, nothing wrong. I just needed to talk to you…in private."

I was slightly confused. What could be so important that he had to talk to me in private?

"We could go to my room if you needed somewhere to talk." I suggested.

"That'll be good."

We started to head back to my room. When we were inside, I closed the door and turned to Jr.

"What did you need to talk about?" I asked, waiting for his answer.

"Does it hurt?" He asked.

"Does what hurt?"

The look of realization appeared on Jr.'s face and he started to wave his hands in the air.

"W-wait, let me rephrase that! Does your back hurt?"

I was confused at what he was talking about. Did he know my back was hurting from yesterday?

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to play dumb.

"Yesterday in the Encephalon when you were fighting that monster it hit you and sent you flying into the wall." He explained.

What?! He knew? But how? He and Shion had been staring at Tiamat in petrified horror at the time that happened and they didn't look like they moved a muscle at the time. I didn't want him to know or worry about me.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I lied. I suddenly felt horrible after doing so.

Jr.'s eyebrows furrowed and a slight look of anger seemed to show on his face.

"Don't lie to me!" He growled. "I know you got hurt yesterday! I saw it!"

I flinched at the tone his was speaking in. He wasn't usually like this whenever we've talked. Why was he liked this?

"Okay, so I did get hurt. But I feel completely fine now." I insisted.

At this Jr. seemed to calm down, but there was a look in his eyes that seemed to tell me that he didn't believe me.

"Oh yeah?" He came over until he was standing next to me. "Would you say that if I were to do…this?"

He then patted my back once. I hissed, shutting my eyes when I suddenly felt pain travel from the bruise on my back to throughout my body. Even though it was only a pat, it felt like he hit it instead.

"That's what I thought." He said firmly.

"Oww… You didn't have to do that…" I said in pain. My eyes watered in pain.

"I'm sorry, Ayame. But I had to know." He said sadly. "There's only one thing left to do to know for certain."

"What's that?" I asked, finally able to look down at Jr.

"I need you to take your coat off."

I was confused so I started to take my coat off and placed it on the chair nearby.

"Now stand on your knees." He said.

I did as he told me to and went down on my knees. He started to make his way so that he was right behind me. I then realized what he was going to do. He was going to try to look at my back. I waited for what would happen next.

"Umm… You wouldn't mind it if I were to lift the back of your shirt up, would you?" He asked uncertain.

I couldn't help but smile.

"It really wouldn't matter if I said I minded, would it?" I asked.

"Good point."

I could feel Jr. lifting up the back of my shirt slowly and carefully so that he wouldn't hurt me. I heard Jr. take a sharp intake of breath when the shirt was lifted up as far as it could go, probably at the bruise he saw on my back.

"Ayame, this is horrible!" He cried. "How can you go around saying this doesn't hurt?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't want you to worry." I said.

I heard Jr. sigh and I could imagine him shaking his head.

"Well, you did a pretty good job doing so." I could hear the sarcasm in his voice. "Just hold still."

I was confused and tried to turn my head to look at him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to heal you, or at least try to ease the pain a bit. Now hold still."

I turned back around so that I was facing forward again. I felt his hand lightly on my back in a feather-like touch. It soon felt warm where he touched and as soon as it came, it was gone. I felt his hand pull away.

"There. That should do it." He said.

I felt his hands pull my shirt down so that it covered my back. He soon came around so he stood in front of me as I got up.

"How does your back feel?"

I touched my back and was surprised that I didn't feel any pain.

"It's as if I never got hurt in the first place." I stated.

"That's Medica M for you."

"Medica M? What's that?"

"It's an Healing Ether. It's very useful when you get hurt. It's only the second level of the Ether skill itself, but it heals more than Medica S." He explained.

"Could you teach it to me?" I asked.

"I don't see a problem in doing so, so I'll teach you."

Jr. then held my hand with his. It started to glow a pale yellow light and I noticed that it felt warm. The light soon faded and he let go of my hand.

"Now you know Medica M."

"Thank you, Jr." I said.

I got on my knees and hugged Jr. I felt him tense but he soon relaxed and returned the hug.

"No problem."

We pulled away and I stood up.

"I gotta get back to the Bridge, so see ya later, Ayame!"

Jr. went over to the door and ran out into the hallway. I stared at the now closed door in confusion.

* * *

ATE: How was it? I hope you readers like this chap.

Jr.: It was interesting.

Albedo: Especially since I'm in it!

ATE: Albedo! What are you doing here?

Albedo: You said that I could come on to talk when I made my cameo in this story.

ATE: You haven't made a cameo yet.

Albedo: Yes I have. Or don't you remember the last chap you wrote?

ATE: That was you as a kid! So your cameo isn't official yet.

Albedo: When do I make my _official _cameo then?

ATE: I would have to assume the next chap or the one after that.

Albedo: That's too long to wait.

ATE: Well suck it up! Now please remember to review! :)


	13. Chapter 12

ATE: Hey everyone! I updated again and it's a long chap. Hope everyone enjoys it!

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own my OC Andrea/Ayame.

* * *

Chapter 12

In a dark area Albedo sat on his throne-like chair while holding the body of a subordinate 100-Series Realian that he had already killed. Just then Margulis' voice came on the intercom talking to Albedo.

"The vermin have eluded the trap…" He said. "Prepare yourself…"

Albedo started laughing. "So, we'll finally hear it…" He threw the body of the 100-Series Realian to the ground. "The Song! I can't wait…for that wonderful song!"

Albedo laughed maniacally.

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I was sitting on the bench in the Park Area. I had been told that the charges against us were dropped along with the Kukai Foundation.

Just then I heard something that sounded like music playing and I became confused.

"Is that…singing…?" I asked.

I got up from the bench I was sitting on and went to the Bridge.

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In Gaignun's office both Jr. and Gaignun heard the sound playing and their faces paled.

"Hey, Gaignun… That's…"

Gaignun knew exactly what Jr. was thinking.

"It can't be… The Song of Nephilim…?"

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On the Elsa chaos' eyes widened when he realized what the sound was.

"No!" He shouted as he sat up.

Captain Matthews, Hammer and Tony looked at their friend in confusion.

"chaos…?"

"That Song. They mustn't allow it to play…"

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Wilhelm sat in his office playing what seemed to be a game of chess with a hooded man when he heard the Song playing.

"The Song…" The hooded man said.

"So it begins." Wilhelm said.

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Outside in space where the Federation ships were at, beams were destroying the ships one by one.

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As I was making my way to the Bridge I encountered Shion who was also making her way there as well.

"You're going to the Bridge, right?" I asked.

"Yes."

We continued to make our way and soon got on the elevator. The elevator stopped when it reached the top, where I saw Jr., Gaignun, MOMO, chaos, Ziggy and Allen. I looked outside the window and saw Gnosis swarming the Foundation.

"The Gnosis are closing in!" A 100-Series Realian said. "Four minutes to contact with the Foundation!"

"The civilians! Start evacuating them immediately! If all else fails, we may have to abandon the Foundation." Shelley turned to Jr. "Is that acceptable?"

"I'll leave it to you." Jr. said. "Evacuate all civilians into the Durandal!"

"Acknowledged. I'll make the announcement."

"Where's KOS-MOS?!" Shion asked. "If we activate the Hilbert Effect, it could buy us some time for the evacuation!"

I heard the elevator moving and turned around to see that KOS-MOS had arrived on the bridge.

"Shion, did you call for me?" KOS-MOS asked.

"KOS-MOS, are you ready?"

"Yes. I am ready."

Suddenly I saw Gnosis appeared inside the Kukai Foundation.

"Reports of Gnosis sighted in colony precinct 32! They've also penetrated precincts 18 and 27!" The Realian said.

"What!?" Jr. cried.

"The Hilbert Effect!" Shion told KOS-MOS.

"Affirmative. Activating Hilbert Effect."

A visor came over KOS-MOS eyes and a blue light appeared, which must had meant the Hilbert Effect had activated.

"This should keep them from materializing inside the colony."

"In any case, we have to hurry up and get everyone onboard." chaos said. "If we don't do something, the Gnosis are going to take over the entire Metropolis."

"I'll help with the evacuation!" MOMO said.

"I'll go as well." Ziggy stated.

"Same here!" I said.

Shion stared at KOS-MOS for a while.

"KOS-MOS… We're counting on you." Shion said.

"I am happy to be of service."

"Good."

We then went into the Foundation and helped rescue all the civilians in Sector 26 and 27, fighting Gnosis along the way. After helping the civilians we were about to leave when a huge Gnosis appeared and started to attack us. I used Analyze and saw that the Gnosis was called Gigas and with everyone's help we were able to finish it off. Afterwards we started to make out way to the Launch Pad.

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Outside the Foundation A.G.W.S. were trying to fight against the Gnosis. Suddenly a big white A.G.W.S. piloted by Albedo appeared and the other units tried to destroy it, but the white unit took all the A.G.W.S. out instantly. The white unit then destroyed a bunch of Gnosis

"Weak!" He yelled. "They're all so weak!!"

Albedo laughed maniacally and the war continued.

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We soon got to the Launch Pad. I saw MOMO go over to a person that was on the ground bleeding and tried to help them. I went over to where MOMO was and tried to help as the others went over to the shuttle.

The camera switches to the Kukai Foundation's Launch Pad where MOMO is helping the injured and Shion standing at the shuttle.

"MOMO! Ayame!" Shion shouted from where she stood on the shuttle. "Hurry and get in!"

"I'm okay!" MOMO said. "I've got to help treat these injured people. This person's bleeding heavily…"

"I'll stay with her, Shion!" I said.

"All right! We'll come back for you two soon!"

While MOMO and I were treating the injured person, a man appeared slowly behind us.

"You'll be okay. I'll close the wound now with some nanospray."

Soon MOMO was able to heal the person using the nanospray. When she was done we both got up and started to make out way to the shuttle when she stopped and turned around. I followed her gaze and saw an old man walking up the stairs.

MOMO flashes back to the part in the Kukai Foundation's Launch Pad. MOMO saw someone walking away from her.

"Daddy!" MOMO cried.

Without warning MOMO started to run after the man, making her way through the crowd of people.

"MOMO come back!" I yelled.

I started to run after her as well, trying to catch up with her.

"Daddyyyy!"

I saw MOMO running after the man into a alley and I followed her. When I came in I saw MOMO staring at an dead end and the man nowhere in sight.

"MOMO!" I said. I grabbed onto MOMO's hand, causing her to look at me. "MOMO we need to get back to the Durandal!"

I watched as MOMO's eyes widened in fear.

"Ayame, behind you!"

I turned around and saw the silhouette of a person behind me and my eyes widened as well.

-------------------------------------------------------

Shion and the others took the shuttle back to the Launch Pad on the Kukai Foundation to check up on MOMO and Ayame, but they didn't find them there.

"Oh? How strange…" Shion said. "MOMO and Ayame aren't here. Where could they have gone?"

Everyone went to the Residential Area where they found Allen carrying a box.

"Allen!"

"Have you seen MOMO and Ayame?!" Ziggy asked.

"No, they're not back yet?" Allen asked. "I thought they were with you."

"They stayed behind to treat the injured, but they weren't there when we returned. We thought they might have come back on their own…"

"Damn, where the hell are they…?" Jr. said. "All right, I'll get our 100-Series to start searching. They shouldn't have any trouble finding MOMO, being the same model and all."

"Thanks. We've eliminated the Gnosis within the Colony, but there isn't any guarantee they won't be back."

-----------------------------------------------------

I slowly regain consciousness as I woke up. When my eyes opened, I found that I wasn't in the Kukai Foundation. Instead I was in a dark place on a bridge. As I looked around, I spotted MOMO on the ground unconscious.

"MOMO!" I cried. I went over to her and held her. "MOMO! Wake up!" I started shaking her.

MOMO's eyes fluttered open. "Ayame?" She started to sit up. "Where…are…we..?" I watched as she started to shiver. That was when I noticed that it was cold. "It's so cold… What happened…?"

I watched as MOMO started to think.

"I…I can't remember… Do you remember Ayame?" MOMO asked.

"No…" I replied.

"What…is that smell?" She smelt something? "It's so…strange… It's faint, but it's coming from somewhere…" MOMO gasped. "Who's there?!"

I watched as MOMO walked over to a Realian lying against the wall. I followed her over to the Realian and my eyes widened.

"_That…that looks like the Realian I saw in my nightmare with that…!_" I thought.

"No. 0097… My sister… That's it, isn't it…? This is Daddy's place…" MOMO said. "I finally get to meet you…and we can't even talk… There were so many things I wanted to ask about you, about Daddy…" I saw the Realian move a little. MOMO must've seen it as well. "…You're still alive! Are you okay? Who did this to you?"

The Realian touched MOMO's face and my friend closed her eyes as a moment of silence fell on us. Soon MOMO opened her eyes again and the Realian's hand fell.

"Was that…your memory…? Thank you. Thank you for letting me see Daddy…" MOMO said. She got up. "He's here, right…? Through that door…?"

"Whose 'he' MOMO?" I asked.

"The person that did this to my sister." She gestured to the Realian on the ground.

"_Could it be him?_" I thought.

We started making our way to the next area, but little did we know the Realian on the ground started to move a little after we left.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone was on the Bridge of the Durandal and saw that the Federation fleet had surrounded them.

"The Federation fleet is surrounding us again!" Mary said.

"Now what're they up to?!" Shion asked.

"I think I know." Shelley said. "Look at the movements of the Gnosis."

A screen popped up showing the Foundation and what appeared to be red clouds appear around it, showing the Gnosis' movement.

"The pattern of the Gnosis gate-outs are near the center of the Foundation."

"What about the Zohars in the hangars?!" Gaignun asked.

"They're in stasis!" Mary said. "Attract Inhibitor output is normal!"

"So if the Zohars in the Durandal aren't calling the Gnosis, then…"

"Gaignun…" Jr. said. "It's the Song we've been hearing, isn't it…?"

"Indeed. It's faint, but there's no mistaking it. No one else seems able to hear it, though…"

"Hey, do you guys hear something?" Shion asked. "It sounds…like a…song?"

"A…song?" Allen asked.

Everyone looked puzzled

"I don't hear anything." Allen said. "You sure you aren't imagining things?"

"I don't know… I swear I can hear it…"

"_She hears it? How's that possible?_" Jr. asked, talking to Gaignun telepathically.

"_Why…am I feeling so unsettled? This image…just won't leave my mind…_"

"You _too? This darkness… I feel…like I'm being dragged down into an abyss…_" Jr. then knew "It can't be…!" He cried.

Gnosis appeared from outside.

----------------------------------------------------------

(AN: The following has parts from both the cut (USA) and uncut (Japanese) versions of the cutscene from the game.)

We entered a new area that was dark.

"I knew it. I knew I wasn't imagining it…" MOMO said.

I looked at the ground and saw a bunch of Realian corpses and I felt sick to my stomach. MOMO must've seen this since I heard her throwing up.

"Such tears… What beauty they hold…these tears of sorrow… Surely they are the most precious substance in the world."

I looked up and saw Albedo sitting in his throne-like chair holding the body of a Realian, and held it's arm.

"_I-it's…it's just like that nightmare I had…!_" I thought my face paling.

"But, are you worthy to shed such tears? The act of mourning the dead belongs to the realm of humans. Like your friend here." He pointed a finger at me. I glared at him.

"You did this…didn't you!?" MOMO asked angrily.

Albedo stared down at the Realian in his arms. "Ah, my beautiful little Kirschwasser… But still… Can you really call this a corpse?"

Albedo bent the Realian's (Kirschwasser's) arm, making it crack that it made me feel sick. It scared me and MOMO. He got out of his seat holding the Kirschwasser in his arms.

"Frailty, thy name is woman… No, that's not right. You little Realians weren't even born from a woman's womb."

He then threw away the Realian like trash and started to make his way towards MOMO. That was when I quickly got the Shiruba out and got in front of Albedo, protecting MOMO.

"Stay away from MOMO!" I said, glaring at Albedo.

"I'll play with you later." He said.

Suddenly, Albedo hit me and I was sent flying into the wall. Upon impact with the wall the air was knocked right out of my lungs. My body slid to the ground, unable to move at the moment.

"_Not again…_" I thought.

"Ayame!" I heard MOMO say as Albedo laughed in the background.

"The human race, fearful in its weakness, built this world in a futile attempt to elude the abyss they call mortality. Culture…civilization…all delusions created by a powerless race, and of little use, like a barren woman. But amidst all this, you continue to exist as an unfettered soul, free from the shackles of flesh and blood… A completely pure consciousness… An eternal spiral, undefiled by impurities… a fusion of fire, breath, and spirit… What can we call you…but angels?" He said. "New, unadulterated psyches… But what you lack is reality. And that is what I shall provide you with…!"

I watched as Albedo ripped his left arm off, blood pouring everywhere as he let it drop to the ground. I felt my stomach churn at this action. And MOMO was just as scared as I was! Albedo walked towards MOMO frightening her even more. He held out his left arm (which had this purple light forming where it once was) to her.

"Boo!"

Albedo's arm magically appeared out of nowhere and replaced the one he lost. He started to laugh maniacally and ripped his head off, blood spilling as he let it fall to the ground. The scary thing was that his body was still alive and I felt nauseated.

"Ah, ma belle pêche…there's no need to tremble like that. Else you'll make me feel like a péché myself…"

"_H-he…he's still talking?!_" I thought horrified.

"S-stop it…" I whispered.

I saw that MOMO just as horrified by Albedo's gruesome action.

"Was that a glimpse of a man that I caught in your heart? Who is it, this red- haired…?" He stopped. "Red-haired…Rubedo… Ah, it's Rubedo! Oh, that's just perfect…"

Albedo cackled as he stomped on his head, letting blood pool on the ground. Just like his arm, his head grew back.

"Do you know what he said while he coughed up his lifeblood? 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.' Wheat, eh? There's enough of it, we can afford to waste as much as we want. Like my head, you see?"

Albedo came closer and touched MOMO's face and I suspected she was scared.

"What do you think, my beloved pêche…?" He asked.

I watched MOMO faint as Albedo laughed maniacally.

When I saw this happen I felt angry at Albedo for doing this to MOMO. I finally recovered from flying into the wall and picked up the Shiruba slowly as my hands shook.

"_I need to stop this!_" I thought. "_I have to get him away from MOMO!_"

I aimed at Albedo and shot at him. The bullets hit him as I continued to shoot more bullets at him.

"I thought I told you to stay away from MOMO!" I shouted.

I stopped shooting at Albedo, seeing that his shoulder was blown off and his chest had bullet holes as I saw his head growing back. When it grew back I saw him smirking as he turned to face me. He started laughing.

"That tickles!" He said still smirking. "You really want me to play with you, do you?"

I was now angry and started shooting him again. Suddenly the gun wasn't shooting anymore bullets. Shit! I ran out of bullets. I knew I should've gotten more ammo.

"Ah, this makes you all the more irresistible." He said.

"_What?! Irresistible?!_" My eyes widened. "_What does he mean?!_"

I saw Albedo approaching me. As quickly as I could, I pressed the buttons on the Shiruba and they transformed into swords, and I pointed them both at that madman as I glared at him.

"Why so hostile, mon iris?"

"Let's see…maybe it's because you're a sick psychological madman!" I said.

"Oh, such harsh words. I feel so hurt."

"That's nothing compared to what I'll do to you!"

"Oh, scary scary."

I was about to stab him through with the Shiruba, but at the last second Albedo grabbed them both and threw them aside. My only form of defense was gone. I suddenly felt scared that I started to shake.

"What beautiful tears. Why do you shed them?"

That's when I noticed the wet substance on my face. Was I scared enough to cry? Or was it something different?

The next thing that happened surprised me. Albedo knelt down in front of me and that was when I notice his face.

"_H-he looks like Jr. and Gaignun!_" I thought.

"What's wrong? You look a tad bit scared." He said. He placed a hand on my shoulder and I tensed up. "But that's something I might be able to fix."

Suddenly Albedo's lips crashed into mine and my eyes went wide as he pulled me in. I tried to pull away but he pulled me back in. I felt Albedo's tongue move across my lips and I shut my mouth tightly to make sure that he didn't get inside. Just then he bit down on my bottom lip, which caused me to part my lips in pain. Albedo took advantage of this and stuck his tongue in my mouth.

I wanted so much as to throw up at the moment. I felt sick with his tongue in my mouth. I tried to pull away again but Albedo pulled me into his body again and held me to himself tightly that I couldn't get away, as if to deepen this torturous kiss he was giving me.

"_S-stop… I don't like this…_" I thought. "_Jr…_" I felt tears fall from my eyes. "_Please…help us…_"

Just then Albedo pulled away from me, but he still held me tightly to him. I was finally able to breathe. I was scared…he still scared me…

"You liked that, didn't you?" He asked. I started shaking again. "Was that a 'no'? Don't deny it. I know you liked it!"

"You're wrong…" I whispered. If he had heard me, he probably ignored what I said.

"But sadly playtime is over and it's time for you to take a nap."

Suddenly I felt pain in my neck and before I knew it I blacked out.

* * *

ATE: Thanks for reading. And now there is another person coming in. Let's give a warm welcome to my friend Jessica!

Jessica: (Screams and slaps ATE on the back) I'm so excited!

ATE: Ow... (rubs back in pain) Well anyways, my friend here had convinced me to make an OC for her for the sequel of this story, but I can't tell who it'll be!

Jr.: That's not fair!

Jessica: Hey, deal with it! You're in all three games and stories. I don't have that luxury!

Jr.: DAMMIT!!!

Albedo: (Hiding in corner) Can I make my cameo now?

ATE: Yes you can Albedo. Get your funny white cape and your ridiculous outfit out here!

Albedo: Harsh words.

ATE: I didn't know you cared. And the fact that you know a quote from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.

Albedo: Ah you know me. What do you think I do with my time while I wait to make my cameo?

Jessica: I'm here too!

(Everyone stares at Jessica weirdly)

Jessica: Anyways, please R&R! I really like my friends story so far. I'M SUCH A DIE HARD FAN!!!!

(Cuts off)


	14. Chapter 13

ATE: Sorry for not updating in so long. Thing is I was waiting for my new laptop that I got for my b-day last week on friday and I love it! Sadly, the code for locking into my home's local network was misplaced so I've been going over to my friends house in order to write this chap and they were kind enough to let me use their local network connection there. So now, to make up for the long wait, I'll give you a long chap to read. Enjoy!

Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga or Valkyrie Profile 2 Silmeria. I do, however, own the characters that are new to the story.

* * *

Chapter 13

_(Jr.'s POV)_

I stood on the Bridge of the Durandal with everyone else as we had witness the appearance of the Rhine Maiden and other ships not too long ago and managed to destroy all those Gnosis that had previously surrounded the Kukai Foundation like an ocean. Like everyone else who had just seen the weaponry of the ship I too was staring in amazement and shock.

"The Rhine Maiden…" I heard Shion say. "So she's operational now…"

"Chief!!!"

Suddenly a screen appeared with a girl wearing a red Vector uniform like Shion on the other end.

"Miyuki? Where are you calling in from…?" Shion asked.

"Woo hoo! Pretty cool, huh?" That girl, Miyuki, said as if not hearing what Shion said. "Did you see the Rhine Maiden? I am sooo glad I requested that transfer to Second Division! If I didn't, I never would've seen this beauty in action."

"Second Division? What're you…"

"I'll tell ya later. Is KOS-MOS there with you?"

"Huh?" Shion looked confused as she looked over at KOS-MOS. "Yeah, but…"

"Okay, I'll send it over then."

Suddenly a case with the Vector symbol appeared on the ground and Shion went over to it, kneeling down to open it as Allen came over as well.

"Miyuki? Isn't this…?!"

"There's some type of force field concentrated near here." Miyuki said. "There's a very high probability that it's what's attracting the Gnosis."

"A force field?"

"Right. The observational guys said whatever it is, it's definitely something man-made. Anyway, we can find the origin of this field if we link up the Dämmerung's mainframe with KOS-MOS' D.S.S.S. sensor." Miyuki explained. "It appears as though the enemy's using some kind of cloaking device to conceal itself right now, but there should be a wrinkle or two in the surrounding space, though. We figured that if we can tear those open, we'll be able to find out what we're dealing with."

"Is that why you gave me this PT cartridge? I mean… Do you have any idea what this thing is?"

"Of course! …Or so I'd like to claim, but I actually just transferred in, so I'm not really sure." She said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Look, Miyuki…" Shion began, sounding serious. "This cartridge is a weapon! It sets off a phase transfer that destroys everything in the area. It may be localized, but you could vaporize an entire star with this thing if you wanted to. You'd have to be insane to try using this in a populated area."

"Shion…" KOS-MOS said.

"What is it, KOS-MOS?" Shion asked as she looked over to the android.

"By limiting the phase transfer mass, I can activate the device without impacting either the Federation fleet or the Kukai Foundation."

"You can do that?"

"Affirmative. This is one of my many functions."

"Even the Rhine Maiden's got a limitation to how much she can fire." Miyuki stated. "Let's take out the source before the Gnosis overwhelm us!"

"But…"

"Shion… This is the Song of Nephilim." I stated. "There's no question about it."

"The Song of Nephilim?" Shion asked. "What is it?"

"The single worst creation that ever resulted from Joachim Mizrahi's research. It was the Song that destroyed Miltia and summoned the Gnosis. We've gotta stop it before everything goes out of control."

"Out of control…?"

"And we still haven't found MOMO and Ayame yet. We've gotta move!"

"I know, but…" Shion looked to KOS-MOS.

"Any sign of MOMO or Ayame yet?" Ziggy asked.

"We're still scanning, but we haven't located them yet." A 100-Series Realian answered.

"I see… We've got to make a decision, Shion." Ziggy stated. "We can't hold out against another Gnosis attack."

"…All right." Shion said. "Let's see what we can do."

-------------------------------------------------------------

From the Bridge we watched as KOS-MOS floated to the position where she would use the weapon.

"Listen to me, KOS-MOS." Shion said. "Try to keep the phase transfer mass as low as possible. All we need is the locus of that force field."

"Affirmative." The android replied. "Setting transfer mass to 0.11 MPT. Transfer time set to 4.8 times ten to the negative thirty-eighth. Loading cartridge."

KOS-MOS loaded the cartridge into her gun and it suddenly transformed into a really, really big gun.

"_Sweet! I sure wish I had a gun _that_ big!_" I thought.

"_That's just what you need, Jr._" I heard Gaignun say telepathically.

"Bypass between D.S.S.S. and mainframe secured. Opening multidirectional scan." Miyuki said.

"Distortion detected at direction 8-0-1-8, near the U.M.N. structure. It is currently emitting a weak column pulse." KOS-MOS said,

"That's it!" Shion exclaimed. "And your line of fire?"

"Line of fire, clear. Awaiting orders."

Shion turned to Shelley.

"Shelley, are the anti-electromagnetic shields ready?"

"Preparations are complete." Shelley said. "You may fire at will."

"Roger. KOS-MOS, fire the phase transfer cannon!"

KOS-MOS fired the phase transfer cannon and a blue light exploded and suddenly the Song of Nephilim appeared.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Inside the Song of Nephilim Albedo stood in the area where his throne was. In his arms was MOMO and not too far away from them laid Ayame on the ground unconscious from what happened earlier.

"They're earlier than I expected." Albedo stated. He placed MOMO on what appeared to be a table(?) of light. "I think I'll have a look around…for that key that sleeps inside you."

He ran his hand across her cheek and face until he held his hand above her head and a light emitted from his hand, MOMO whimpering in pain as he started absorbing the Realian's power.

"Nooo…stop it… Get out…out of…my body…" MOMO whimpered as she started to cry. The bracelet that MOMO was wearing was shown and she saw a flashback of when Jr. gave her the bracelet. "Jr.… Ziggy… I'm…scared…"

Just then Albedo stopped his absorption process when he realized something. He looked over at Ayame's unconscious form laying on the ground, grinning as an idea suddenly came into his head.

"Yes! What a wonderful idea! It's just perfect!"

Albedo abandoned MOMO, who fell unconscious from the sudden halt of his absorption process, and made his way over to the unconscious Ayame who was oblivious to what was about to happen.

His grin got wider as he knelt down and placed his hand over Ayame's head. A light emitted from Albedo's hand and, just like with MOMO, caused Ayame to whimper in pain as well, her blue eyes wide open and having a dazed look in them.

"This will be a wonderful present for Rubedo." Albedo said. "Oh, just wait until he finds out, mon iris. I can just imagine his reaction now! It _will_ be priceless!"

------------------------------------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

"I knew it…" Gaignun said when he saw the Song of Nephilim.

"It's exactly the same…" I said. "Nothing's changed at all."

"So that's…the Song of Nephilim… Dr. Mizrahi's… Miltia's…" Shion said.

I continued to stare at the Song of Nephilim, clenching my fists as I remembered what it was responsible for doing during the Miltian Conflict. It caused all those Realians, the U.R.T.V.s, and Albedo to all go insane!

"_Help us…Jr.…_" My eyes widened. That was…!

"MOMO…" I cried. "MOMO and Ayame are inside that thing!"

"Are you certain?" Ziggy asked.

"Scanners!" Mary yelled.

"100-Series Observational Unit prototype MOMO and Ayame tracked and located!" One of the 100-Series said. "They're in the middle of the distortion caused by the phase transfer."

"MOMO and Ayame… What're they doing in there…?" Allen asked.

"Damn it!" I slammed my hands down on the console in front of me in anger at that revelation. "It's him…Albedo! I felt his presence…the moment I heard MOMO's voice…" What did that bastard want with them?!

"Ah…Albedo." I heard Gaignun say. "That explains what that unsettling feeling was about. Not to mention why they're there."

"What do you mean?" Ziggy asked.

"Those girls MOMO and Ayame…not only is MOMO a specialized Realian, but also the repository for the late Joachim Mizrahi's records. Albedo and the U-TIC Organization want that information. They wanted it for a long time… But I don't understand why they would want Ayame or what for…"

"Albedo? Who's that?" Allen asked.

"My dark half…the part I've tried to hide away…" I answered as I rose up a little.

"Dark half?"

"Jr…" Ziggy said. "Get this ship, closer to the Song of Nephilim."

"Whaat?!" Allen cried. Sheesh…! Could that guy be any more of a wuss?

"It isn't necessary to get too close. Just lend me a shuttle; that'll be enough."

I watched as the old man walked over to the elevator and I suddenly realized what he was going to do, so I ran over in order to block his way.

"Hold it!" I said as I got in front of Ziggy. "Where do you think you're going? I'm going to save MOMO and Ayame… No matter what!"

"_And it's my responsibility to protect Ayame, too! I promised her…!_" I thought.

"Don't bother." Ziggy said.

"What did you say?!" I yelled. The old man was starting to piss me off, _big time_!

"When someone close to you is in danger, you lose your objectivity. And it almost always ends in tragedy. I've…seen it happen too often."

I glared at the old man in my anger! "Oh, what, so I'm just like them now?!"

"Aren't you? This Albedo person… When you finally confront him, do you think you can keep your head straight?"

I was suddenly frustrated at that stupid old man! He's giving me a lecture about keeping my head straight in a situation like this! I suddenly thought of what Albedo may be doing to Ayame and looked to the floor as I tried to calm down from the anger that seemed to be boiling up inside me.

"If you honestly say yes, that's all I have to say. But if you can't…"

I looked up at Ziggy, glaring at him.

"You're really something, you know that?" I said. "You think you're such a hardened soldier compared to me. Tell me then…how can I become cold and detached like you?"

I watched as the cyborg narrowed his eyes at me.

"Only allow yourself to think of numbers and battle strategy." He explained. "Don't let your mind wander to the faces or voices of those precious to you…even when it seems cruel not to. Too intense of an interference will overwhelm and ruin everything. That's what I've learned over these past hundred years."

"The day numbers and battle strategies replace people…it'll be game over, cyborg." I said coldly. I hated the idea that Ziggy would _ever_ suggest such a thing.

"Jr.… Remember to stay focused, no matter what he does to MOMO or Ayame. Only by doing so will you be able to save them. Listen to my advice. I know what you're going through."

"_You wish! You have no idea what I've been through. And I don't plan on loosing anyone I care about again!_" I thought.

I started to walk towards the elevator and rode it down in order to cool off for a bit. As it made its way down, I suddenly saw something!

_I suddenly found myself standing in a dark void, the darkness seeming to stretch endlessly as I looked around the place. Suddenly a bright white light appeared in front of me and I held my arms in front of my eyes to block the light. The light dimmed down some and I was able to move my arms away from my eyes and I saw someone!_

_Standing in front of me was a girl with long silver hair flowing passed her knees that glowed like the moon, bright sky blue eyes that seemed to glow, and wore a long flowing long-sleeved white dress that covered her feet. _

_Coming from her back were large wings made of light that shone with a light silver blue light _(AN: Think of the wings from Valkryie Profile 2: Silmeria, when either Alicia or any of the Valkryie sisters do their Soul Crushes during battle)_. Around her body was a glowing aura of white light, giving the impression that her body itself was glowing. Overall, the beauty of the girl was one that would have been entirely from fantasy._

"_You must save them…" She said, her voice familiar yet musical at the same time, and her eyes seemed to be pleading to me. "Please…save MOMO and Ayame…"_

_My eyes widened at what she said._

"_Wait!" I cried. "Who are you? How do you know about MOMO and Ayame?"_

_Just then the girl started to fade away. I started to run towards her in a mad dash._

"_I said wait!" I yelled. "Tell me who you are!"_

I suddenly found myself still standing on the elevator platform and saw that it had already reached the lower level. Just who _was _that girl? I walked off the platform and decided to take the subway to the Park Area.

I soon got there and entered the area, making my way over to the bench on the right side of the room. As I sat down on the bench, I couldn't help but remember something.

"_Ayame always came to the Park Area…_" I thought. "_She always sat on this same exact bench too…_"

I can still remember the first time she came here when I was showing her around the Durandal after she had just woken up as if it were yesterday. I couldn't help but give a small smile at the thought.

"_This was her favorite place to be. She really loved it here._"

I can recall when I had found her found her sitting on this bench asleep that same day after I had showed her around. I can still remember that I had decided to sit next to her and watch her as she slept. I had noted how her hair had been hanging in her face when her head was hanging in her sleep.

But the fact that Albedo had taken both her and MOMO really made me angry. I had to save them. Both of them!

I decided to leave the Park Area and go back to the others were waiting for me.

------------------------------------------------------

I soon got back to the bridge where everyone was in fact waiting for me. I spotted Gaignun standing near the console. We knew that MOMO and Ayame were both on the Song of Nephilim but we had no way to get there.

"_Dammit!_" I thought.

"The Foundation has its hands full dealing with the waves of Gnosis. We cannot move from our current location." Gaignun explained. "We'll need a ship with sufficient mobility in order to get past the Gnosis and dock with the Song of Nephilim."

"The Durandal's landing shuttle won't do. How about the Elsa? Is it operational?" I asked.

"Yes." Shelley replied. "I checked its status just now, and fortunately, it seems to be unharmed. Shall we relay a message to Captain Matthews?"

"Yeah, go ahead. Damn, that feeling I got from him…that bastard was trying to access MOMO's subconscious. We don't have time! Let's go old man! chaos!"

"Wait, Jr., let us help too!" Shion said.

"Don't be ridiculous!" I said. "You gave any idea what kind of place that is?! Do you know what that lunatic is like?!"

"Please! Let us go with you."

"Shion…"

"…" She was quiet.

I sighed, knowing that she wouldn't back down. Damn, was she persistent? You know how that saying from the time of Lost Jerusalem goes: 'the more, the merrier.'

"All right." I said. "But you better not let your guard down, even for a second. There's no room for mistakes in there, got it?"

"Yes." She answered.

With that we all made our way to the Elsa that was in the docking bay. We went to the Bridge, where we found Captain Matthews, Hammer, and Tony doing nothing.

"Going to the Song of Nephilim, right?" Matthews asked.

"Where else do you think we need to go?" I answered with a question. "You do realize that we have to save MOMO and Ayame, right?"

"Just so you know, I don't intend to leave the Song of Nephilim until we've rescued MOMO and this Ayame girl. You better get ready!"

"Then let's go to the Song of Nephilim already!" I said.

"Man, I can't believe I'm stuck doing this. You better fork over a lot of hazard pay!"

We then left the Durandal via the Elsa as the Foundation and everyone else were trying to fight off the Gnosis. As we got closer to the Song of Nephilim, I couldn't help but start to get slightly worried about what may be happening to MOMO and Ayame.

"Captain!" I heard Hammer say. "There's an opening to the side where we can dock!"

"All right! Bring us in, Tony. Be careful." Matthews said.

"Roger!" Tony said. "Closing in and approaching the…"

"Wait!" Shion suddenly said.

"Huh?"

"Tony, can you show me the top…?"

"_Shion wants to see the top of the Song of Nephilim?_" I thought. "_Why would she want to see that?_"

"What? You want me to go around the top? Tony asked.

"Please, just circle around the top!"

I could see that Tony was thinking about what Shion was asking before he finally made a decision.

"All right… But once around is all you're getting." He said. "Who knows what's up there?"

"Thank you." Shion said.

Tony flew the Elsa towards the top of the Song of Nephilim and we all saw the top as he flew around it in a circle. Shion was quiet as she stared at the top. The Elsa then flew to the side where we docked the ship at the entrance.

Everyone filed out of the room and I was about to leave the room with the others to go into the Song of Nephilim.

"Yo, Little Master!"

I turned to Tony who had his head turned to me.

"Yeah, what is it?" I asked.

"By any chance, is this Ayame chick…you know, _hot?_" Tony asked.

"Uhh…exactly _why_ would you want to know?" Why was he even asking me this question in the first place?

"Oh, no reason. We could use the information to help you guys look for her. In case she somehow gets on this ship without you knowing."

"You don't have to worry about her, Tony. Cause if anyone's gonna find her, it'll be me."

"But _is _she hot?"

"Don't worry about it Tony. You'll meet her eventually, I'm sure."

It was with that that I decided to leave before Tony suddenly decided to stop me again.

------------------------------------------------------

As we entered, I instantly noticed how cold it was and could help but shiver. But then I spotted MOMO lying unconscious on the ground and immediately ran over to where she was.

"MOMO!" I knelt down next to her as I shook her in an attempt to wake her. "MOMO! MOMO!" I watched as MOMO woke up. "MOMO! You all right?"

MOMO didn't say anything and looked at me, but I felt the blood drain from my face when I didn't see a single hint of recognition in her golden eyes.

"Don't tell me…we're too late…?" I suddenly felt angry when I realized that this was Albedo's doing! "Damn…that bastard! He's taken her consciousness! I'm gonna make him pay for this!! Hold on, MOMO! I'll make you whole again!"

"Jr.! What happened to MOMO?" Shion asked.

"That monster Albedo's gone and reversed the spiritual link…" I said.

"Reversed the spiritual link?" Ziggy asked.

"It's the opposite of what Gaignun and I do when we communicate telepathically. But by seizing someone's consciousness, you can delve inside the other person's mind and drag out whatever memories you feel like taking."

"You can't be serious!" Shion stated. "That means MOMO's mind is…"

"Yeah… It's best for you all to go back. I'll handle this on my own."

"_It'll be better this way, too…_" I thought as I started making my way passed everyone.

"Wait! It's too dangerous to go alone!" chaos said.

I stopped when I heard chaos say that and just stared at him.

"Sorry." I said. "This is between me and him… All right?"

"But still…"

I then spotted MOMO walking over to me and I couldn't help but feel sad as I looked at her.

"MOMO… You…wanna come with me?" I asked.

MOMO nodded.

"I'm going, too."

I looked towards Shion.

"Shion…"

"Don't you remember what you told me?" She asked me. "This song…it's responsible for destroying Miltia and bringing the Gnosis into this world… If this has anything to do with that place that I know of, then…this involves me as well…"

I then realized that I didn't see Ayame anywhere. If MOMO was here, she should have been here as well.

"MOMO, have you seen Ayame anywhere?" I asked, feeling slightly hopeful.

I watched as MOMO shook her head. I felt the slight hope I had disappear only to be replace with worry.

"Maybe we'll find her while we make our way through here." Shion said.

We continued making our way further into the Song of Nephilim. At one point we had to fight a Gnosis called Rianon SE in the second tower, which took us a while to kill.

"_Damn, we're wasting too much time!_" I thought. "_And we still haven't found Ayame yet!_"

We soon made it to the third tower and took the elevator down to the lower area, but we stopped when we saw that MOMO stopped moving.

"Umm… I am not feeling well, so please exclude me from the battle members. Thank you." MOMO said.

"MOMO, are you okay?" Shion asked.

"Yes…"

"_What's up with MOMO?_" I thought.

We continued moving and entered through the large door in front of us. Inside we found Albedo sitting on a throne.

I caught a glimpse of Ayame lying against the side of the throne, her cheek against the cold surface while a pained expression graced her face. Upon closer inspection I noticed slight bruises along her neck and I instantly felt anger flare up inside me. That _bastard_!

"Albedo… YOUUU…"

"Please spare me from any trite lines like, 'You're still alive?' Life and death are merely empty words lacking any power over me." He said. Albedo used his free hand to stroke the side of Ayame's face and my anger increased at the sight. "By the way…did you ever bother telling the girls? Do they know that we're monsters, both you and I?"

I then noticed that Albedo held MOMO in his arms and my eyes widened.

"MOMO?!"

"_If that's MOMO, then who--?!_"

Suddenly I felt hands wrap around my neck from behind and realized I was being strangled and lifted up, my hands reaching up to pry the hands that were choking me as my eyes welling up with tears from the lack of oxygen.

"I want the me that's inside you…" The voice of 'MOMO' said from behind me, who was still strangling me.

"M…MOMO…?" I struggled to say, still trying to pry her hands off.

I suddenly noticed that the hands seemed to change dramatically from the way they felt. There was no doubt about it! This definitely _wasn't_ MOMO!

"MOMO?!" Shion cried.

"That's not her." Ziggy stated. "That's…"

"Free from the bonds of flesh… A pure consciousness has no true form." Albedo said. "All that exists is the longing for reality."

The lack of oxygen was really starting to get to me! I needed oxygen NOW!!!

"Get off me!!" I yelled, using my power to emit flames to free me from the person that was strangling me! I really didn't want to use them, but what choice did I have?!

I heard something hit the ground and knew that it was my strangler. Then I heard the real MOMO whimper in pain.

"Did you see that, ma pêche…?" Albedo asked. "You're witness to his true nature right now…a consciousness desperately struggling to stay alive. Such a pitiful sight. This is unseemly, Rubedo."

"Jr.…" I heard MOMO say.

Just then I watched as Albedo started to absorb MOMO's power and it made me furious.

"Albedo! Get your stinkin' hands off of her!" I yelled as I drew one of my gun. "Or else I'll…"

Albedo looked up at me from what he was doing.

"Hmm? You'll do something…if I…do this?"

He then continued to absorb MOMO.

"You mother…!!"

I fired my gun at Albedo's right arm, but it disappeared for a moment and then reappeared. Dammit! I forgot he could regenerate! Albedo started laughing.

"What pain…so sweet…so alive! Pain is such a vital part of realizing one's existence…" He said. "Try to remember, Rubedo. What it takes…what you must do… Or…have you lived in peace for so long that you've completely forgotten?"

I started aiming my gun at Albedo again.

"I don't give a damn about what you have to say! Just give them both back!!"

"I don't think so… I'll just take what I want to proceed with my plans… And along the way, I'll make you remember…who you really are…"

He continued to absorb her…again!

"Shut up!" I growled. "I don't need some freak contaminated by U-DO to tell me…"

"Jr.…?!" I heard Shion say.

"Contaminated?" He asked. "Not quite. More like…evolved. I experienced but a fragment of my true power that day. The waves that inundated my body are now a part of me! I've reached a higher stage of existence compared to you incomplete mortals." He went back to absorbing MOMO. "I am the alpha and the omega of perfect consciousness!"

I could feel myself shaking from being terrified by what that monster was doing. I tried so hard, but I couldn't stop shaking. What if he did something like this to Ayame?!

"S…Stop it…"

"Mmm…Ah, this is nice… Don't you want to give it a try?"

"MOMO!!"

I fired two rounds at Albedo, hitting him in his right arm and head. They both disappeared and, of course, reappeared.

"Impossible… Is that nanotechnology…?" Ziggy asked.

"No. Nanomachines can't work anywhere near that fast, and besides… Not even the research laboratories have models with head-regenerating capabilities yet." Shion said.

"He's a U.R.T.V." chaos said. "Just like Jr.…"

"What?!"

"U.R.T.V.s… They were created for the express purpose of eradicating U-DO."

"U-DO…?"

"Rubedo… You still don't remember? Or could it be…fear… You're frightened, is that it? Am I right? I can't blame you." Albedo said. "The only thing that matters to you is yourself. Rubedo…so cruel… And yet these girls clings to you so dearly. Isn't it pitiful?"

I saw the bracelet that I gave MOMO drop to the floor and I stared at it for a while before looking back up to Albedo, who was still absorbing MOMO.

"One more layer. Just one more layer, and then I'll have everything inside of her. I'm sure you know what that means, Rubedo. Now then, I wonder how much more she can take?"

MOMO started panicking in fear as she was being absorbed by Albedo. I couldn't take it anymore! He's making me even more angry! I was now in a rage!

"Noooooo!!" I yelled.

I activated a blast of flames from my body and knocked Albedo into midair and caused him to hit the wall and fall to the ground. MOMO and Ayame were both free from him and had ended up a distance away from the throne and closer to us. We all ran over to them and I knelt near both of the girls in order to see if they were okay.

"MOMO!! Ayame!! Are you both okay?!" I asked as I checked them.

Both MOMO and Ayame were unconscious, but the latter's face didn't appear to look as painful as it did earlier. They were going to be alright!

I heard Albedo laughing maniacally and looked up to see that he was getting up while covering his right eye.

"I see… It all makes sense now…" He said.

Albedo's A.G.W.S. came down and he jumped on top of it.

"But now…Rubedo, how about we enjoy a moment or two together." Albedo got inside the A.G.W.S. "Come on… Our time has arrived!"

We were soon forced to fight Albedo's A.G.W.S that was called Simeon. It was a good thing that we got MOMO and Ayame out of the way before the assault, since the A.G.W.S's attacks were hitting near us. We soon defeated the Simeon and Albedo got out of it.

"Ah, Rubedo. You're getting closer to your old self." Albedo said, "But you're still not quite there yet. You were much stronger than this back then, weren't you?"

Albedo activated dark flames from his body.

"Damn you, Albedo!" I growled as I held my right arm, only to let go. "Don't get cocky!!"

I used my powers and it caused red flames to emit from my body and both mine and Albedo's flames hit each other, but neither passed any further. I shouted as I struggled to control my power.

"What's wrong, Rubedo? You can do better than this. Come on, show me what you've got."

"Jr. no!!" I heard chaos say. "Don't do it! Don't play into his hand…or you'll…"

But I wasn't listening. I tuned out the rest of the world and focused on Albedo. That monster caused harm to both MOMO and Ayame and I wanted to make him pay for what he did!

"Come on, Rubedo! Just a little more!" Albedo taunted. "Just a little more and your dreams'll be fulfilled! Come on, come on, come on!!"

I became more aggressive at his taunts. I could hear chaos' voice, but I continued to tune it out.

"_Don't do it!_"

I suddenly saw an image of that girl I had seen earlier on the Durandal standing in front of me, her glowing sky blue eyes pleading to me again.

"_You need to control your power! If you don't, everyone in this room will get hurt!_"

Suddenly mine and Albedo's flames were decreased in size by a light and I saw that it was MOMO using her power.

"What's happening?!" Shion said. "MOMO…?"

"MOMO…" It really was MOMO!

I quickly looked back in front of me only to find that that girl wasn't there anymore. I looked back over to MOMO.

"You've…taken so much from me." MOMO said. "But…I… I was given a part of you too. A part of you is now within me! So, now…!"

"So, now…?" Albedo mocked, only to laugh soon after. "So, that's why you're doing that?"

"Why do you hurt everyone? My sisters, they all loved something they saw in you. Even after all that you put them through, they still believed in you. How…how can you desecrate their feelings – their hearts?!"

Albedo laughed maniacally. "Desecrate? Your sisters? Look around you."

That was when I noticed all those corpses of the Kirschwassers on the ground.

"_How horrible…!_" I thought.

"Who's the flower that blooms from those corpses? That's right… It's you…pêche. Everything is just as Mizrahi – your dear Daddy – wanted it to be."

"Daddy…?"

"That's right. Isn't it, Rubedo?"

I shook my head.

"You bastard…" I growled. "Say any more and you're… You're gonna…"

"…pay for this!" Shion said. "Those girls weren't toys for your enjoyment! They were all individuals with will of their own! Yet you…"

"Still spouting that self-righteous crap?"

"Huh?" Shion said in confusion.

We were all looking around the room when suddenly a bright light appeared from the ceiling.

"The new guy?" Albedo said.

Soon a hooded man wearing blue appeared out of nowhere and floated to the ground next to Albedo.

"Stop screwing around." He said. "Hurry up and get the job done. Don't waste your time on these fools."

"Give him this message: It belongs to me!" Albedo said as he walked over to the Simeon that had just came down.

"Hold it!!" I shouted.

I tried to stop Albedo, but a force field near the hooded man knocked me back.

"Where do you think you're going?" The hooded man asked. "Hey, why don't you do me a favor and let him go for now. I'll do my best to keep you entertained in the meantime."

--------------------------------------------------------------

The Simeon flew away and outside of the Song of Nephilim, Albedo was thinking of something and he soon saw people as bright round areas appeared until a bright one appeared as well.

"So this is the Y Data…" He said.

"I do not exist for your pleasure…"

Suddenly the android he had seen earlier appeared in his vision.

"You call this protection?" He asked.

Then he saw an image of the woman naked and covering her breast.

"Wha…?! You…!!"

The image soon faded and Albedo ended up staring out at space.

"He really didn't want anyone going in there… Oh, well…that just makes it all the more interesting!" He started laughing. "Very interesting."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

We continued to stare at the hooded man in blue that was in front of us, while I, on the other hand, was glaring at him from where I was kneeling on the ground after being hit by that stupid force field. It's his fault that Albedo managed to get away!

"Who…are you?" Shion asked.

"Who? What does it matter? Or…do you need a name to describe me?" He asked. "A definition by words is merely a means to deceive oneself. It's meaningless before the truth. What matters is how you perceive things. The slightest shift, then life and death no longer have any meaning."

"Huh…?"

"You don't get it?"

I started to get up from where I was, still glaring in anger at that hooded bastard.

"Well, how about I show you…"

"Get out of the way…" I growled once I got to my feet.

"Hm?"

"I said, get outta my way!!" I yelled, extremely furious!

"Ah…you've got guts, boy." The hooded man said. "Why don't you make me move? Shouldn't be a problem for a U.R.T.V., now should it?"

Another person that was trying to make me angry. That's the third one today, too! I'll make him pay for letting Albedo escape!

"You're damn right!"

The hooded man transformed into a Gnosis that was called Ein Rugel, which after we defeated it turned into another Gnosis called Doppelwogel. A few minutes later we defeated the Gnosis and suddenly mist surrounded the area and then it eventually disappeared to reveal the hooded man in blue. He didn't seem to be tired, but everyone else (including me) was tired from the fight.

"It's useless. The laws by which we are governed are just too different." He said. "Isn't that right, boss?"

None of us responded. What they hell was he talking about?!

"Well, then… I think our friend has already left. And it's about time for me to make my exit. I have a busy schedule to keep…" He turned around and started to walk off.

"Wait!" Shion yelled, causing the man to stop. "What are you trying to accomplish?! Why did you come here?"

"You wanna know?" He asked. "Then come to that time, to that place… You know what I mean…"

"Huh?"

"I'll be waiting for you, Shion."

The hooded man suddenly disappeared before our eyes. Just what was he?

"The Song of Nephilim has ceased all functions." KOS-MOS stated. "The Rhine Maiden is clearing away the remaining Gnosis."

"I see…" Shion said. "Jr., are you all right?"

My head shot up from looking at the ground I sat on in order to look back behind me to see everyone.

"Y-yeah… And you guys?" I asked. "Man…who was that? He has an aura of incredible power…"

"I don't know… I don't…understand any of this…"

"Let's go back, Shion." chaos said.

"Yeah…"

I started to get up from the ground and looked in the direction of where Ayame laid against the wall where we had placed her earlier. I walked over to her and stopped when I was only a few feet away from her.

"_We can't leave her here…_" I thought. "_I would probably never live with myself if we did._"

I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder and looked up to see that it was Ziggy's doing.

"I know what you're thinking, Jr." He said.

He took his hand off my shoulder and walked over to Ayame. To my surprise, he knelt down at her side and picked her up, carrying her bridal style. I couldn't help but stare at the old man in shock at what he just did as he started walking towards the door. He then stopped only to turn to face me with what I could barely make out was a questioning look on his face.

"Aren't you coming?"

I shook my head to clear my thoughts as I finally got the meaning of what he was saying.

"Yeah…"

"_Idiot! That's all you can manage to say when you've just witnessed Ziggy doing the most unthinkable thing in the universe taking place right in front of you?_" I mentally scolded myself.

I ran in order to catch up with the others so we could get back to the Elsa. We soon got on the Elsa and made our way to the Bridge (Ayame still being carried by Ziggy), Where Captain Matthews, Hammer, Tony, and Allen were waiting for us. I saw Tony's eyes lit up when he spotted Ayame and that was when I mentally hit myself when he started to come over to Ziggy who still held her.

"_Crap! I forgot about Tony!_" I thought.

"So this is that Ayame chick you told us about?" He said. "Quite the looker, if you ask me!"

I felt annoy and pretty much walked over to them until I stood between Tony and Ziggy who still held Ayame.

"I'll be watching over her until we get back to the Durandal. So none of you have to worry." I looked at Tony, letting him know that I was referring to him. "C'mon, old man. Let's take Ayame to the cabin."

I followed Ziggy to the woman's cabin while he carried Ayame. We soon got to said cabin and Ziggy carefully placed Ayame on one of the beds, where she could rest until we got her back to her room on the Durandal.

I stared at Ayame as she slept on the bed that she know laid in. Personally, I'm glad we managed to rescue both her and MOMO from Albedo. Who knows what else he could have done?

"Jr."

My head shot in the direction of where Ziggy was in order to look at him.

"What is it, old man?" I asked.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" He asked.

I was instantly confused at what he meant and it must had shown on my face by what he said next.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then I won't ask."

With that Ziggy left and I was left very confused by what he meant.

"_What the hell was that about?_" I thought.

I pretty much stayed with Ayame during the ride back to the Durandal, mostly watching her sleep the whole time.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I stood on the Bridge of the Durandal with chaos. Earlier after when we had gotten back on the Durandal I had led Ziggy to Ayame's room so we could let her rest in her room until she woke up.

I heard the elevator come up and turned around to see Shion and MOMO appear.

"Are you okay?" I asked the Realian.

"Yes…" She answered. "That man, he said he was searching for the key inside me… He…probably…"

I placed my hand on the side of MOMO's face.

"It's all right." I said. "It's not your fault."

"Oh!" MOMO then showed me the bracelet I gave her. "This charm! Maybe I have this to thank for my safe return."

"Main cannon ready to fire." Shelley said. "Target: Song of Nephilim."

"You sure about this?" chaos asked MOMO.

"Yes… Please…for their sake."

"chaos, do you think this'll put the Kirschwassers to rest?" I asked as I looked at the Song of Nephilim.

"Well… Their thoughts and feelings now exist within MOMO." He answered. "Their wish…finally came true…"

"…I hope so. Maybe…that's…what Albedo wanted…"

I started walking up to the console where Shelley was.

"Jr.…"

"It's…" I started, suddenly feeling sad. "It's because I couldn't…"

"Little Master!" Shelley said as I finally stood in front of the console.

"Yeah, go ahead."

We soon fired a bunch of lasers from the Kukai Foundation at the Song of Nephilim, but it reflected off of it!

"Wha?!" I yelled.

"Wait! Something's wrong…" chaos said. "It's…"

"…The Gnosis!" MOMO said. "The remaining Gnosis…they're being…?!"

My eyes widened when I saw the Gnosis all gathering and going into the Song of Nephilim. Then the Simeon appeared and I instantly knew what that meant!

Suddenly a communication monitor appeared in front of us and I instantly felt angry when I saw the last person I wanted to see right now. Albedo laughed maniacally.

"I wanted to have more fun, so I came back for a visit." He said.

"Albedo…" I growled. "I swear I'm gonna…!"

"Now now, cool your jets. Hold off on the emotional outburst until you see my entire performance…"

The Simeon emitted a burst of yellow flames and caused the Kukai Foundation to shake violently.

"W…What's going on?!" Mary asked.

Suddenly, a big area appeared in outer space.

"What is that…?!" Shion asked.

The thing that appeared seemed to be a big a fortress of some sort, my eyes wide as I started at it.

"Proto…Merkabah…" MOMO said.

"Proto Merkabah?" Shion exclaimed.

"The place where…I was born…"

I watched as the Song of Nephilim inserted itself to that thing…the Proto Merkabah…!

"Did you say…this is where you were born?" I asked.

"Yes. Daddy gathered together the data he needed to create me on Miltia, and then he sent it to Proto Merkabah." MOMO said.

"Are you saying that thing was built for the purpose of creating you?"

The Proto Merkabah tilted sideways and suddenly fired a red beam at the Federation fleet, destroying all of them!

"The Federation fleet…"

"Just like that…" Shion said.

"Well, Rubedo? What do you think of my new toy?" Albedo asked. "And that was using the minute amount of energy remaining in this thing! Just a mere fraction of what it's capable of. Icing on the cake, if you will."

The Proto Merkabah fired grappling lasers and grabbed the Gnosis, pulling them into the station.

"That light… It's just like when KOS-MOS…" Shion stated.

"Originally, this thing, the Song of Nephilim, and the Zohar were a single apparatus." Albedo explained. "The Gnosis which seek the Zohar are responding to the faint waves that emanate from the sealed off Miltia. This thing uses the Gnosis as a medium to collect the waves from the Zohar, and store the energy it needs in order to operate."

"How the hell do you know all that?!" I asked.

"It was ma pêche. When I linked with her consciousness, I learned how to use this thing. I'm really quite grateful."

The Proto Merkabah started charging its beam.

"Let's see then…I wonder how long it'll take to charge? Five minutes? Or perhaps ten? You look a little pale there… Scared, are you?" He asked. "Perhaps I should just turn you all to pillars of salt…that's not a bad idea." He started laughing. "…red will become white…"

Albedo started laughing maniacally. I felt anger flare up inside me again.

"Don't mock us, you bastard!" I shouted.

He continued to laugh.

"Hmm…so, what to do… All right. I know! My next target will be…"

Proto Merkabah moved to Second Miltia and started aiming at it.

"The weapon is retargeting! It's aiming straight for the capital of Second Miltia!" A 100-Series Realian said.

"What did you say…?!" Shion cried.

"Exactly." Albedo stated. "Those 100-Series are sharp, aren't they?"

"Won't let you do this! Listen to me, Albedo!" I yelled. "You stay right where you are! It's time for you and me to settle this!"

He laughed.

"Oh please, that's not like you at all." He said. "You don't really give a damn about others, do you?"

"Whaaat?!"

"_That's NOT true!!!_" I thought.

"Well, fine… Stop me if you can…" He laughed maniacally. "I'll be waiting!" He suddenly grinned. "By the way, you might want to check up on mon iris. I bet she'll be happy to _see_ you, Rubedo. That is, if you really do care about her."

He laughed again and broke contact with us.

My eyes suddenly widened when I realized what Albedo meant.

"Damn it…"

I ran down the ramp and onto the elevator and rode it down, hearing the others calling out to me and it went down. I quickly got off the elevator and ran onto the subway to get to the Residential Area and quickly got off the train as well, making a mad dash to Ayame's room.

"_Dammit! He really did do something to Ayame!" _I thought. "_Why didn't I think about it before?!_"

I finally made it to the door to Ayame's room and ran inside to witness her as she just started to wake up, her blue eyes starting to open.

"Ayame!" I cried as I ran over to her bed.

Ayame sat up in her bed and turned to look at me, only to look at me with nothing but fear in her eyes as her face paled!

_(Ayame's POV)_

I started to regain consciousness and started to open my eyes.

"Ayame!" I soon heard.

"_Jr.?_" I thought.

I sat up in and found that I was lying in my bed in my room. I looked to where the voice had come from only to feel the blood drain from my face and suddenly feel fear at who I saw. Standing not too far from my bed and moving towards it was Albedo!

"Albedo…! What are you doing here?!" I cried.

He stopped in mid stride and looked at me with a shock expression on his face.

"Albedo?! Ayame, I'm not Albedo!!" He said.

Albedo started making his way over to my bed and I started to cower in fear as he came closer to where I was.

"Get away from me Albedo!!!" I yelled, my eyes shut tight in my fear.

"I told you I'm not Albedo!"

"Stop lying to me!"

I suddenly felt his hands grab the side of my arms firmly. I tried to struggle, but couldn't make any progress.

"Stop this! You need to calm down!" He said. "Look at me, Ayame!"

"_Wait…! Albedo doesn't call me by my name. He always calls me mon iris. What if…?_"

Something wasn't right about all of this. I noticed that his hold on my arms wasn't hard like I remembered, but instead more gentle. I stopped struggling and opened my eyes, forcing myself to look up at the person I feared. When I managed to do so I noticed that Albedo's face was soft and calm in expression, unlike his insane maniac expression I always seen him wear on his face.

"_What's going on…?_" I thought. "_This…this isn't…_"

"Ayame, I'm not Albedo." He insisted. "Don't you remember the promise I made to you?"

"Promise…?" I asked, hesitant in my confusion.

"I promised you that I would be with you as you continued to try to remember your past."

I gasped quietly. That was the promise that…!

"_It can't be…!_"

"Jr…?"

Just then Albedo's body started to shift from himself to Jr. as he nodded, until it finally settled on Jr. after the second time. It really was Jr.!

"_This whole time it was Jr…! And I…!_"

I felt tears well up in my eyes and held onto Jr, crying into his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm so sorry…" I said, still crying.

I could feel him rubbing my back in order to comfort me.

"It's not your fault. It's his fault that this happened." He said.

"I was…I was so scared…"

"It's okay now, Ayame" He held me a little tighter. "You don't need to be scared anymore."

_(Jr.'s POV)_

"Albedo…! What are you doing here?!" She cried.

I stopped in mid stride and looked at her, shocked at what she called me.

"_Why the hell is she calling me Albedo?!_" I thought.

"Albedo?! Ayame, I'm not Albedo!!" I said.

I started making my way over to where she was on the bed, starting to cower in fear as I came closer.

"Get away from me Albedo!!!" She suddenly yelled, her blue eyes shut tight in her fear.

"I told you I'm not Albedo!"

"Stop lying to me!"

I didn't like how she could look at me with such fear. She was looking at me as if I _were _Albedo himself. I've never seen her look so scared before and I immediately hated Albedo for scaring her with whatever he did to her!

"_That's what he did to her!_" I suddenly realized. "_Albedo must had made her think I was him! That bastard…!_"

I came over to her and grabbed the side of her arms firmly, but not enough to make her feel pain. She tried to struggle, but wasn't able to do so due to my grip. I needed her to calm down so she could listen to reason.

"Stop this! You need to calm down!" I said. "Look at me, Ayame!"

It took a while, but she eventually stopped struggling and opened her eye, and soon looked up at me. Her expression was still that of fear but it appearance was lessen slightly.

"Ayame, I'm not Albedo." I insisted. "Don't you remember the promise I made to you?"

Ayame's face changed from fear to confusion when I mentioned the promise.

"Promise…?" She asked, hesitant in her confusion.

"I promised you that I would be with you as you continued to try to remember your past."

She gasped quietly, suddenly realizing what I was saying.

"_This has to work…!_" I thought. "_If not…_"

"Jr…?"

I nodded slowly and her blue eyes widen. Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes and she suddenly held onto me, taking me by surprised as she started crying into my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her as she continued to cry.

"I'm so sorry…" She said, still crying.

I started to rub her back in order to comfort her. Another thing I didn't like seeing her do. I didn't like to see her cry. I felt like my heart was literally being torn whenever I saw her this sad. Ayame looking at me in fear ranked second compared to me seeing her sad and crying.

"It's not your fault. It's his fault that this happened." I said.

"I was…I was so scared…"

"It's okay now, Ayame" I held her a little tighter. "You don't need to be scared anymore."

Eventually she stopped crying and she lifted her head to look at me, her eyes red and puffy. I gave her a smile to let her know that everything was going to be okay. I knew that it worked since she smiled back.

"T…thank you…" She said quietly.

I knew instantly what she was thanking me for and felt a slight glow in my heart.

"It was no problem. I didn't want anything to happen to you. We're friends, remember?"

"Yes…"

I let got of her and stood up, turning around to face her I held out my hand to her, but she seemed to stare at it.

"Are you coming?" I asked.

Ayame looked back up at me before nodding and soon grabbed my hand as she stood up.

"Let's go see the others."

It was with that that we left her room for the Bridge. I knew for certain that everyone may have been worried about her.

* * *

ATE: Finally finished! Believe me this took a long time to finish writing all this, especially with my self-appointed editor who took it upon herself to be my editor breathing down my neck. So more stalling on my part. Please Review! :)


	15. Chapter 14

ATE: I finally uploaded the last chap! I hope everyone reading this will enjoy reading this.

Declaimer: I don't Xenosaga. I only own the characters that aren't in the game.

* * *

Chapter 14

Jr. and I soon arrived on the Bridge via the elevator and I saw that everyone was there. They looked surprised when they saw me.

"Ayame!" Shion exclaimed.

I saw MOMO and she must've seen me since she came rushing over to me and hugged me.

"You're okay, Ayame." She said.

"You silly. That's my line." I said, but I still couldn't help but smile at her as I held her. I was glad that Realian was okay. "But thank you, anyways."

We soon let go and I followed MOMO to the others.

"There's a transmission from Juli Mizrahi." A 100-Series Realian said. "Shall we connect?"

"Yeah." Jr. said. He started leaning on the side of the area where the console was. "Open the connection."

Soon a communication monitor showed up and there was a woman with short dark hair and green eyes who appeared on the screen and I assumed that she was Juli Mizrahi. I remembered Allen mentioning her before. She talked about something called the Proto Merkabah and talked about destroying it.

"The target is a giant experimental facility that was long abandoned before its completion." She said. "A network of tunnels runs through the facility, and the reactor core is located at the nexus where they all meet."

"All we have to do is take out that reactor, right?" Jr. asked.

"Correct. That'll shut down Proto Merkabah completely. The data I sent to you earlier includes a map of the most direct route to the core. Right now, you are our only hope. I ask on behalf of the Federation government, and as a member of the human race, to destroy that abominable machine. Once and for all…"

"Mommy…" I heard MOMO say. She sounded sad.

Juli Mizrahi broke contact with us. I looked out the window and saw what looked like a huge station out in space. I didn't know what it was, but something told me that it was bad news.

"Ayame?"

I looked in the direction that Jr.'s voice came in.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Are you coming with us to the Proto Merkabah?" He asked.

"Proto Merkabah?" I was confused. What exactly was the Proto Merkabah anyways? Jr. must've seen the confusion on my face.

"That's the Proto Merkabah." He pointed to the space station that I had been looking at earlier. "Are you gonna come with us and help us infiltrate it?"

I thought for a moment if I should help or not. If we were infiltrating and destroying the Proto Merkabah, we may have to fight. I suddenly thought of the past two incidences of when I had fought Tiamat and encountered Albedo. Both incidences had something in common and that was the fact that in both of them I had been sent flying into a wall and hurt my back in the processes. I was still recovering from the last one too…

"I think I should sit this one out." I answered. "Something tells me that I might be sent into a wall and end up hurting my back again. Third time's a charm."

"Third time's a charm? You didn't get hurt again, did you?! And when?!" Jr. asked.

"I did. And it was when MOMO and I encountered Albedo while I was trying to protect her."

"Is that true, MOMO?" Jr. turned to MOMO.

"Yes." MOMO said sadly. "I was very worried that she would be hurt badly from hitting the wall."

Jr. turned to face me again.

"You could at least come with us and stay on the Elsa while we inside the Proto Merkabah. Will you do that?" He asked.

"I think that would be the best option for me. I'll come." I said.

"Good." Jr. smiled.

Everyone (including myself) left the Bridge and went to the Elsa that was in the Dock Area of the Durandal. We went inside the Elsa and went to the Bridge where we found Captain Matthews and two other guys (one sitting at a navigational computer while the other was sitting in the cockpit).

It was there that Shion told Captain Matthews that we needed them to take us to the Proto Merkabah.

"We're ready to go anytime." Matthews said. "I could take you to the Proto Merkabah right now if you want."

Shion: "We're ready to go to the Proto Merkabah."

"Tony!" He said to the guy in the cockpit, who I assumed was Tony. "We're launching the Elsa. Hurry up!"

"Sorry." Jr. suddenly said, turning to Shion. "I didn't mean for you to get pulled into my personal issues…"

"Don't worry about it. After all, my homeland is in peril. And we've received company approval." Shion said. She turned to Allen. "So it's okay, right Allen?"

"…Oh, sure, why would I want to miss out on the fun?" Allen asked. "Besides, it's not like you ever listen to me…"

"What was that?" Shion sounded a little mad. "If you've got something to say, say it."

Allen flinched from what Shion said.

"Ah, no! Nothing! I'd accompany you to the very depths of hell!"

"Hey, what are you trying to do, jinx us?!" Captain Matthews said. He turned to MOMO. "…So, getting in won't be difficult, right?"

"Right." MOMO answered, nodding. "There should be no external anti-air defenses, since it was originally constructed as a manufacturing facility. However, security on the inside is most likely still functional. We should be prepared to deal with many active guard machines."

Jr. looked up at the communication monitor of Mary, two other monitors of Shelley and Gaignun accompanied hers.

"Mary! What about the reinforcements from Second Miltia?" Jr. asked.

"The space bound units were destroyed in the first blast." Mary said on the other line of the communication monitor. "It looks like there's a few more on their way, but they won't get here in time…"

"In other words, it's up to us." Jr. folded his arms as he looked at the floor sadly.

"Looks like it."

"Gaignun…" He looked up at Gaignun's monitor, his expression changing from being sad to serious. "I'm counting on you to cover us…until we get inside."

"I have a request of my own as well." Gaignun said. "Don't let his provocations get to you again. All right?"

"Yeah, I'll be careful. You don't have to worry." Jr. replied.

"I'll take that as a promise."

"Now, don't do anything foolish, Little Master." Mary stated.

"ECM levels at maximum." Shelley said. "Elsa, you have clearance."

"Got it. Tony!" Captain Matthews bellowed.

"Aye, sir!" Tony exclaimed. "We're getting hazard pay for this, right?"

The Elsa took off from the Durandal and made its way through space to the Proto Merkabah. The Elsa soon made it inside the Proto Merkabah and Jr. turned to me.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" He asked me.

"I'm sure. I think it would be safer for me to stay here." I said. "Please don't worry about me. Right now you need to worry about the Proto Merkabah."

"She's got a point, Little Master. You need to take care of the Proto Merkabah before it fires at Second Miltia." Captain Matthews said. "We'll keep an eye on her while you guys are gone."

"Thanks!" Jr. smirked.

It was with that that Jr. and the other left the Elsa and went inside the Proto Merkabah. Allen stayed behind.

"_Please be careful…_" I thought.

"So you're Ayame." I turned around to see Tony was making his way over to me. "I'm Tony by the way. I pilot the Elsa."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah! Little Master sure knows how to pick his chicks. On a scale of 1 to 10, you're a 10 out of 10."

I was confused by what he meant.

"Chicks? 10 out of 10? Do you mean chickens?"

Tony's expression suddenly became confused. In the background I could hear the other guy at the navigational computer snickering for some reason and looked in his direction.

"Don't waste your breath on her, Tony." The other guy said. "She doesn't seem to understand half the stuff you were saying."

"How 'bout you shut it, Hammer!" Tony retorted.

"How 'bout you try and make me!" The other guy, Hammer, said.

Suddenly Captain Matthews lowered to chair he was sitting in to where it was right behind Hammer and kicked him in the back of his head.

"Just be quiet, you two!" He said. "And Tony! I don't think Little Master would be happy if he heard that you were hitting on her. The girl's got amnesia."

I made my way over to Allen.

"Do you know what he meant by 'chicks' and '10 out of 10', Allen?" I asked.

Allen sighed.

"Personally, I don't think you'd want to know." He said.

"I'm going to the woman's cabin to rest."

I left the Bridge and started looking for the woman's cabin. I soon found it since there was a sign posted on the side that stated it was the cabin I was looking for and went inside, going over to one of the beds and sat down on it. I removed my coat and lifted the back of my shirt up, using the Medica M Ether that Jr. taught me in order to heal my back from when I had hit the wall.

I felt the dull pain that I didn't notice before fade until I couldn't feel it anymore. I smiled when I knew that it wouldn't hurt anymore, pulled my shirt down and put my coat back on. I decided that I would get some rest so I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes until I eventually fell asleep.

--------------------------------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

After making our way inside the Proto Merkabah we eventually made it to an area that had a console with a hologram and some data.

"It looks like some kind of data." chaos said.

"A Realian? But it's pretty old." Shion stated, taking a closer look at the data. "The year T.C. 4474 made by Tyrrell, Lamech Model 3."

"Lamech Model 3… That's the model that was manufactured up until a year

before the Miltian Conflict." I said.

"The production year and manufacturer all differ, but they are all older than 4752." Ziggy said.

"It seems all of these Realians were transferred to the Miltia maintenance facility due to some kind of abnormality." chaos exclaimed.

"But why is that data here? What is all of this data for?" Shion wondered. "MOMO, did Dr. Mizrahi ever tell you anything?"

"No, Mommy…never…" MOMO replied..

"I see…"

We continued on our way through the place when we came to another area with more data.

"This one's a list a sick and wounded soldiers." chaos noted. "Looks like it's from during the Miltian Conflict."

"They were transferred to Miltia for treatment, just like those Realians we saw earlier. An odd coincidence." Ziggy stated.

"Those don't look like ordinary wounds. They're only fragments of the data left, but it looks like something more serious, like mental illness." Shion said.

"You can tell all that from these fragments?" I asked surprised.

"Yes. The list of medications here are all ones used to treat psychological disorders."

"I see. I guess there's no reason why you're a chief engineer at Vector."

"…"

I gave Shion a complement. So why was she quiet all of a sudden?

"What? Did I say something weird?" I asked.

"What? No…it's nothing."

"…" chaos didn't say anything.

With that we left the area that we were in and went further into the station. We came to yet another area where we found data on the Proto Merkabah that may prove useful.

"A monitoring room for all of Proto Merkabah." I said.

"It seems all the controls are centralized here." Ziggy said. "Can you locate the reactor core?"

"It seems to be far below where we are." Shion said. "It looks like we'll have to take several elevator shafts down to get there."

"Looks like we still have ways to go." I said. "Let's hurry, Shion."

"Yes."

In the next area, we fought machines called Proto Dora and two Schutz that accompanied it. It took a while for us to defeat them before they were gone for good until we could continue making our way to the reactor core. We came upon an area that had more data, this time it showed a huge hologram of what appeared to be space.

"What an amazing hologram." MOMO exclaimed.

"All observable space appears to be projected here." KOS-MOS stated.

"All observable space…" Shion said. "…? I wonder what that black area is? It doesn't look like a black hole."

It was then that I noticed the huge gap in the hologram that should've had something there.

"Guess it's not quite all observable space." I stated.

"Lost Jerusalem…" chaos said.

"What?" Shion asked.

"Lost Jerusalem was once our homeland in the distant past, but no one can go near it now. Actually, nobody knows its location anymore. It could be that pitch black part there."

I couldn't help but suddenly think of Ayame. She was from Lost Jerusalem, but she couldn't remember, not to mention that she had been in suspended animation for 4,000 years.

"I've heard that the government has been working on a project to find Lost Jerusalem for quite some time." I said. "…It looks like the radius of that black region is at least several hundred million light years."

"Our homeland is somewhere in there…" Shion said.

And we continued trekking our way through the Proto Merkabah. We soon came to an area with a computer in the middle.

"This…is the room where I was born." MOMO said.

"What?" Shion exclaimed, looking at the Realian. "This is where you were…?"

We all noticed the sad look on MOMO's face as she rubbed her hand on the railing as she grasped it.

"MOMO…"

"Mommy never told me what this facility actually was responsible for during the Miltian Conflict…" MOMO explained. "But…I think I know. When I was born, Daddy died… If that vision was true, then what happened afterwards was…" She was quiet, as if thinking of what to say next. "It's just like Mommy said. This is an abominable machine. If a lot of people died because of my birth, does that mean I'm an abomination as well, just like Daddy?"

"MOMO…" I said quietly. How could she talk about herself like that? She wasn't an abomination!

"No!" Shion cried. We all looked at her. "No parent could ever say that."

"Shion…?" MOMO said.

"Even though you're a Realian, you're still their child, right?" She placed her left hand over her chest. "No parent would ever think of their own child as abominations. Surely… There can't be any…"

After that incident we proceeded to the cargo elevator and went down. While the elevator was moving, we had to fight Gnosis along the way until we finally reached the bottom floor. Once we got off the elevator we knew for certain that we made it to the reactor room. We ran across the bridge into a room brightly lit and started searching.

"You're late!" My head shot up to find Albedo standing on top of the reactor. "I was about to give up on you, Rubedo. Take a look. This thing has a full belly already." Albedo jumped down to the floor where we were. "Well then, what shall we do now? Shall we continue where we left off?"

Albedo suddenly started to glow blue as he held his arms out.

"Wh-what is that?" I asked, eyes wide. "Are you…how are you doing that…?"

"Don't be so surprised; this is the power of will, a fundamental power that exists within everyone. What you are witnessing is simply your perception of it. And you know what? Perception and pain are but one and the same." He said. "So…go ahead… Feel my pain for yourself!"

We suddenly had no choice as we found ourselves fighting Albedo. As I fought him I remembered what he did to Ayame and how he did something to make her look at me with such fear on her face back on the Durandal. The thought of that mad me angry at Albedo, but then I remembered what Gaignun told me about his provocation. Ayame's okay now and she told me not to worry about herself. We soon defeated Albedo. I was tired after the fighting.

"Answer me!" I said angrily. "Why are you doing this?! There's absolutely nothing you can hope to gain out of this."

"Au contraire." Albedo said. "I…am doing all this…for your sake, Rubedo."

"_Wha…?!_" I thought.

"For…my sake…?"

"Have you forgotten, Rubedo? That fateful day, fourteen years ago… Have you forgotten what you did to us?!"

My eyes widened as I remembered my past that haunted me to this very day. I looked at the ground. All that happened… It was…it was my…!

"It's all because of you… Because you closed yourself off from us, our mental link was broken, and one after another, we succumbed to the power of the Song. Left behind in that horror, did we have any choice but to submit to it? Remember what happened…and repent for your sins!"

"It's true I… I mean…"

I thought back to the past where I emitted flames and knocked out the U.R.T.V.s.

Albedo started to laugh maniacally.

"So you finally admit to it, you coward!"

"All right, damn it!" I yelled. "I couldn't control my fear!"

"Yes! And therefore, you must atone for your sins, atone with your life! I am the executor for all those who were destroyed!" Albedo said. "Although… I'm actually grateful to you, Rubedo. Thanks to you, I alone was able to find the way… The way to a whole new world."

"What do you mean, a whole new world?" I asked angrily.

"That's all that I seek… It's quite simple. Don't you think?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Albedo jumped up to the top of the reactor and started laughing maniacally again.

"At first I wasn't sure if I should believe… But I experienced something a moment ago that confirmed it… And this ought to verify that experience for me." He laughed. "Entertain me, if you will!"

The reactor started to open and it reveal a Gnosis with the reactor core inside it!

"Damn… You fused the Gnosis…with the reactor…?!"

"You must first destroy this in order to stop Proto Merkabah. You do realize that… Oh, almost forgot the time! Hmmmm, not much left nooow… I'd say five minutes, at best. I wonder how far you'll get in your current condition?"

"_Shit! We only have five minutes?!_" I thought. "_We need to finish this thing off and fast!_"

Albedo laughed maniacally.

"Farewell. I'm sure we'll meet again, if you survive… Rubedo, my other half…"

Albedo then started to leave.

"Albedo!!" I yelled. But it was too late and he was already gone.

"_Damn…!_"

I started to run after him.

"Jr., look out!" I heard MOMO say.

"Wha?!"

A barrier prevented me from going any further and no matter how hard I tried, the force of the barrier pushed me back. The Gnosis came out.

"Damn it…" I growled. "We have to destroy this thing first!"

"Right, this takes priority." Ziggy said.

"Be careful, everyone!" chaos said. "That's no longer just a machine!"

"All right! Let's do it, KOS-MOS!" Shion said.

"Affirmative." KOS-MOS said. She started to glow blue. "Switching to maximum output for all combat systems."

We then had to fight the Gnosis, which was called Sophie Peithos. Sure it would had been easy, but due to our time limit being five minutes it didn't make the fight so easy. During the fight I learned a whole new meaning of wasting time and I silently cursed. Even after defeating Sophie Peithos we really didn't have a lot of time left to even get out of here. We started to make a run for it to the door an ran across the bridge.

"We'll be caught in the explosion!" Shion said. "We have to get out of here quickly!"

The place started rumbling, making Shion lose her balance and fall to the floor.

"What was that rumbling?" Ziggy asked.

"More explosions…?" MOMO cried.

"No." chaos said, shaking his head. "It's faint, but it feels like we're changing directions."

What?! Changing directions? Then that would mean…!

"Shion. I have confirmation of ignition in the Proto Merkabah's propulsion units." KOS-MOS said as Shion started to get up. "It is descending toward Second Miltia now."

"_Dammit! It's heading for Second Miltia!_" I thought.

----------------------------------------------------------------

In space Albedo sat inside the Simeon, watching as Proto Merkabah started moving towards Second Miltia.

"Well then, let's just see how powerful you all are…" He said.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"KOS-MOS, are you sure?!" Shion asked.

"Yes." The android replied. "Should its descent continue at present speed, we will enter the atmosphere in approximately eight minutes."

"Looks like he planned this from the very beginning." Ziggy said.

"That bastard!" I said. "He's got too many tricks up his sleeve…"

"We have to do something…" Shion said. "If something as large as the impacts at full speed, Second Miltia will be…"

"Based on the current angle of approach, breaking up the facility into approximately 28,000 pieces would result in 99.6% of them vaporizing before impact." KOS-MOS stated.

"If we detach each sub-compartment?"

"Just a second. I'll search through my memory banks." MOMO closed her eyes as he searched her memory banks. "The control room… The control room on level 33 will allow us to detach the facility!"

"Hurry!" chaos cried. "There's no time!"

We started to quickly make our way to the control room. MOMO ran over to the console and started rapidly typing on it after it activated.

"Oh, no!" She cried.

"Is there a problem?" Ziggy asked.

"The entire process from system startup to complete detachment takes one whole minute." She turned to us, a worried expression on her face. "That's not enough time for us to return to the Elsa!"

"Is this the only place we can activate it from? We can't do it remotely?"

"No! This system was built so that the command will only be accepted from here."

"Damn…So the only way to stop this thing is to go down with it?" I asked.

Shion: "This can't be… There has to be another way…" Shion said.

"There isn't!" MOMO cried. "I've searched again and again, but we can only activate it from here!"

"Please head back now."

"What…KOS-MOS?" Shion turned to the android.

"Shion, please return to the Elsa with the others." She said. "I will stay behind to initiate the detachment sequence."

"Wait a second! Stay behind…?"

"This facility will enter the atmosphere shortly. We will exceed the tolerances for maximum temperature in three minutes 28 seconds. Please hurry."

"But…"

KOS-MOS started walking over to the console.

"My self-preservation programming is functioning properly. I have no intention of remaining on this facility to the very end. Do not worry. At maximum speed, I can reach the Elsa in under one minute."

"You're sure?" Ziggy asked.

"Yes. This option guarantees the highest probability of success."

"All right." Ziggy turned to Shion. "Let's go, Shion!"

"But…"

"Trust her, it'll be okay!" I said to Shion. "She'll catch up! Now come on!"

We started to run out of the room. Shion, MOMO, and chaos were behind but soon caught up to us as we continued to the Elsa. I just hope KOS-MOS can pull all this off in time. We soon neared the dock when the rumbling caused MOMO to fall, gripping onto the railing for support.

"Hurry!" Ziggy said. "This area will soon collapse!"

We continued running to the Elsa. Shion stayed behind at the entrance door of the Elsa while everyone else went inside and ran to the Bridge.

"Matthews!" I yelled.

"Little Master?!" Matthews asked. "What's all this shaking?! What the hell's goin' on?"

"Proto Merkabah's about to re-enter the atmosphere. If left unchecked, I'll crash into the planet…"

"Whaaat?!"

"We detached all the sub-compartments and that's what's causing the shaking. Anyway, we'll get to the detail later! Prepare for immediate liftoff!"

"Prepare? We're not lifting off right now?"

"KOS-MOS is still inside. We gotta wait for her!"

"Whaa?! Wait a minute! If it's already detaching, then aren't we in danger…?"

"I'm aware of that! But if I say we wait, we wait!"

"Captain! Up there!" Allen yelled.

"What?!"

Suddenly, debris fell on the right side of the Elsa, causing it to shake.

"Captain! We can't stay much longer!" Tony said.

"No kidding!" Matthews stated. "Little Master!"

"Damn it…" I said quietly. "What's taking her… Come on…come on…" I bit the nail of my thumb in my nervousness.

The Elsa started to shake more violently as Proto Merkabah started to collapse even harder.

"Captainnn…!" Tony whined.

"Little Master!!" Matthews yelled.

"All right, all right!" I said uneasily. "Lift off!"

The Elsa started its engines and we started moving.

"That was close…"

The area was collapsing horribly.

"Captain, please go back!" Shion cried through the intercom. "KOS-MOS is still inside!"

"Are you crazy?!" Matthews asked. "You wanna get caught in that?! We're leaving, now!"

"You can't…!" Shion was quiet on the other end. She soon gasped and spoke to Captain Matthews over the intercom. "Captain! The wall! 400 meters to the port side! Take her in close!"

"What?!" Matthews cried.

"Trust me, hurry!"

"What do you mean, hurry?"

"Shion! Port side, 400 meters, right?!" Tony asked.

"Tony!" Shion exclaimed.

"Huh? Tony?!" Matthews protested.

The Elsa approached 400 meters to the port side and the wall burst. Suddenly KOS-MOS jumped out of the wall. Well that solves that problem. Now to get out of Proto Merkabah before we get cooked up. The Elsa was flying very fast and speeding through the escape tunnel. In the next tunnel debris was falling down.

"Tony!" Matthews yelled.

"I'm going for it!" Tony said.

The Elsa finally escaped from Proto Merkabah. Suddenly the Elsa started acting up when we finally got out. We started to see flames and Allen started to say something but none of us could hear.

"What was that?! I can't hear you!" Matthews yelled.

"Like I said, the angle of approach is too steep!" Allen shouted from where he sat at the computer.

"Well, can't you adjust it?!" He yelled to Tony.

"It's no use! The controls aren't responding!"

"That can't be! All control functions are in the green!" Hammer said while he was typing at the navigational computer.

"The apogee and reentry balancers were damaged by the debris! We can't adjust the Logical Drive angle any further than this!"

"Ya moron!" Matthews shouted. "Stop whining and do something about it! You wanna be vaporized?!"

The Elsa was descending down uncontrollably and I suddenly got the feeling in my stomach that one would get while they were riding a rollercoaster down a long steep hill. (AN: If you know what that feels like, then you'll understand. I hate that feeling as well XD)

"External hull temperature exceeding maximum limit!" Hammer cried. Suddenly he started freaking out. "The aft hatch…it's open!"

"What?! Who's the moron doing that?! Is he trying to burn all of us from the inside out?!"

"It can't be…?!" Shion said.

Suddenly we saw KOS-MOS outside of the Elsa floating to the rooftops.

-----------------------------------------------------------

_(Ayame's POV)_

I had woken up a while ago when the Elsa started to shake. No! It was more like Proto Merkabah was shaking and causing the ship to do the same. Were Jr. and the others successful in stopping the station? I stood in the room and wasn't sure if I should leave so I stayed.

Suddenly I felt pain in my chest and started to clutch it as I fell to my knees on the floor. My breathing was heavy and sharp as my lungs felt like they weren't getting enough oxygen. The pain started to spread to my back and I was starting to tear up. Why is my back hurt? I used Medica M on my back not too long ago! It couldn't be my back!

"_What's…happening to me…?_" I thought.

Out of nowhere I felt white-hot pain from my back and I couldn't help but cry out in pain until I fell to the floor unconscious. What I didn't know was that when the pain increased in my back, large wings made out of light emitted from my back and disappeared when I fell to the floor.

-----------------------------------------------------------

_(Jr.'s POV)_

The bright light faded and I could hear the faint sound of ocean waves. I opened my eyes and saw that we had landed, and the ocean surrounded us.

"_We're…alive…?_" I thought.

"Are we…okay?" Matthews asked. He used the console and lifted his seat up. He must've seen something outside the window. "H-hey! Ms. Vector!"

"…Huh?" Shion looked up at Matthews.

"Activate the secondary bow camera!" He commanded.

"Roger!" Hammer replied.

A monitor showed up and standing on the Elsa was KOS-MOS! She was alive.

"KOS-MOS…" Shion said quietly. "KOS-MOS…!"

MOMO held Shion's hand as we were happy to see KOS-MOS alive. The

Elsa flew off in normal speed.

----------------------------------------------------------

A man with black hair wearing a black kimono walked up a hill where a tombstone was. As he was kneeling down to pay his respects, he saw the Elsa flying by.

----------------------------------------------------------

Gaignun sat at his desk in his office talking to Representative Helmer via communication monitor.

"Judging from the circumstances, it's clear that the U-TIC Organization's target is on Miltia." Gaignun stated.

"Ah, Miltia…" Helmer said.

"There's a vortex of temptation…and obsession that still remains. That's what continues to draw them in. And Albedo… He's being drawn in just the same."

"Albedo?!" Helmer was surprised. "You mean, the U.R.T.V. Albedo? …He's still alive?"

"He will not die…" Gaignun said. "Not until that time arrives…"

-------------------------------------------------------------

In outer space the Simeon was flying. Albedo sat inside grinning.

"Now, that was entertaining… All that remains is for ma pêche to link up with the U.M.N., and my objective will be complete." The Simeon started to activate the boosters. "Do heed my message, Rubedo…"

Albedo laughed maniacally as he took off with his Simeon.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

In Wilhelm's office he stood at his desk while a hooded man in red stood in front of it.

"We've confirmed a gate-jump by Albedo's craft." the hooded man in red said. "This is acceptable?"

"Yes, that's fine." Wilhelm said. "The door that leads to Abel's Ark… He is the only one who can open it."

"There's a possibility that he may link with U-DO again…"

"That won't happen. He doesn't have that much power. He's only a key. Of course, we must accept the possibility that he can affect space-time anomalies to some extent… But that's what all of you are for. Still… His will shines with such wondrous light. It's a shame to relegate him to such a minor role… Don't you think…?"

Wilhelm looked to the red hooded man.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Back on the Elsa everyone was in the restaurant when KOS-MOS and chaos entered. Everyone ran to the android while Shion slowly turned around and saw her. The android's headpiece was missing.

"Mission complete, Shion." KOS-MOS said.

Shion paused for a moment.

"Welcome back…" Shion finally said.

Shion was glad to see KOS-MOS was okay. Everyone had made it to Second Miltia safely as well.

_The End. To be continued in the next story…_

* * *

ATE: This is the last chap of Xenosaga I The Beginning. I wanted to get this done so I could start the next story, but I didn't exactly write it quickly so I took my time at some points. I started this yesterday morning. I hope people review. Please Review :) I'll started to work on the second story.


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